The ROOT of Change
by sabersoul13
Summary: What happens when the third Hokage finally decides to do something about how Naruto is treated, and what happens when to do so he requests the aid of someone who is known for manipulating things from the shadows. What could go wrong when Naruto is given access to any resources he wants, along with an older brother who will do anything to protect him.
1. A Change of Heart

Authors Notes:

Hello all and welcome to my second ever fanfiction attempt. To those who have been reading my other fanfic, it's safe to say that you have a general idea of how i write and what kind of things to expect. To those who have not been reading my other fanfic, shame on you for not being up to date.

This story is much like my first in the sense that i am not planning things ahead of time. It will be touch and go for most things as i make up ideas on the spot, but some things have been thought about intensely. As usual, any and all reviews and suggestions are gladly accepted and appreciated, so leave as many as you want. Also, this story will focus more on humor than any other genre, but will have actual serious moments unlike my other fanfic. So if you didn't/don't like my other fic then you wont like this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but i would like to reserve general rights for my OC.

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><p>Hiruzen Sarutobi was a patient man. As the currently reinstated third Hokage, and renowned 'Kami of shinobi', it was his job to remain calm and level headed throughout any and all issues that occurred in order to best serve the village he led. He had maintained his cool throughout two of the great shinobi wars, the betrayal of his greatest student, as well as the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, which resulted in the loss of the fourth Hokage.<p>

Yet as he stood in the dark hospital room of one Naruto Uzumaki, he couldn't bring himself to maintain an emotionless façade. Looking out of the large window, he felt a great sadness wash over him. His village, Konohagakure, the village created by his sensei, Hashirama Senju, and the proud wielder of the 'Will of Fire', had become but a shadow of its former self.

No longer could the elderly Sarutobi look out onto his village and feel proud of what he saw, no longer could he feel confident in the decisions he had made concerning the small child that now lay battered and broken in a hospital bed, hooked up to every machine possible just to keep him alive. He had grown soft in his old age, and with that softness, had come failure; failure to maintain order in his village, and more importantly, failure to keep the promise he had made to Naruto's parents.

His failure to keep such a simple promise, one that he was more than capable of keeping, had cost him more than he could ever hope. He had lost his right to call himself a good man that had done all he could for those who needed it, and he had lost his faith in the people of Konoha; all because of one child that most would consider trash.

But with this great loss, he had gained something of greater importance. He now had the will and determination to right the wrongs he had let slide, to attempt to make up for his mistakes, and to make sure that from now on Naruto would live the life he deserved. It didn't matter what methods he used, he didn't care about the consequences he would face, so long as the child was freed from the nightmare his life had become. And if Hiruzen was required to use fear and force to do so, then so be it.

"I promise Naruto, I will change things, no matter the consequences," he whispered to the sleeping boy.

"I believe that is something that I can assist you with," said a voice from one of the dark corners of the room.

"Danzō" Sarutobi said quietly. "It is good to see you arrived so fast"

The now named Danzō walked out from the shadows that concealed him. He was an elderly man with both his right eye and right arm wrapped in bandages, a cross shaped scar on his chin, and a walking cane held firmly in his left hand. Hiruzen wasn't surprised at the fact that the man had been able to enter the room without him noticing, he wasn't known as the shinobi of darkness for nothing.

"I thought I should arrive as quickly as I could, especially since it is not every day that you actually request my presence" Danzō replied.

Despite his usually emotionless and cold expression, Danzō had adopted a softer and more concerned look as he observed Naruto. This was not unnoticed by his old friend and Hiruzen couldn't help but smile in knowing that his long-time rival wasn't without a heart.

"Will he recover?" Danzō asked.

Hiruzen sighed quietly. "He will make a full recovery, physically, the fox is doing that much at least. I am not too sure about his mental recovery though; the villagers went beyond their usual beatings this time so I don't know how badly it effected his mind," he answered solemnly.

"Indeed. I never expected the civilians to go so far, even if there were ninja helping. Hopefully the boy will maintain the fortitude he has held for so long, because if he does not, more problems are sure to arise" Danzō replied.

"Naruto is strong, and his will is second to none. If anyone can pull through something like this, it's him," Hiruzen said firmly.

"True, but he is only seven years old. How much do you think he can take before he snaps?"

"I don't know" Hiruzen answered, taking another glance at the boys frail form. "I understand that it was your men that found him"

"It was"

"Then I owe you thanks. If not for ROOT Naruto would surely be dead, and with his death would come the murderous rage of the Kyuubi"

"There is no need to thank me old friend; I was only doing what was best for the village. Although I am still concerned by you allowing me to keep ROOT up and running in secret," Danzō said, hinting at the unasked question that had been circling his mind for a long time.

Hiruzen smirked, an action that slightly put Danzō on edge. "I may not approve of all of the training methods your ROOT operatives are put through, but I would be a fool if I denied that they were effective. I allowed you to maintain it for this exact circumstance," he explained calmly.

"So you allowed ROOT to stay so it could be used to save a single child?" Danzō asked in minor irritation.

"Of course not, although that was a fortunate bonus. No, I allowed ROOT to stay because I have finally reached my ropes end. I have grown soft Danzō, weak even, and in that weakness I have allowed the village to grow weak. The shinobi are nothing more than highly trained labourers, and the civilians have become pompous and self-centred under the protection of our walls. This is no longer the Konohagakure that Hashirama envisioned; it is a joke, and I intend to fix that"

"I am no longer going to be pushed around by the narrow minded fools that think they hold power in this village. I am the Hokage, and what I say is law. Things will change, whether they accept it or not, and the first change will be making up for my failure to uphold Minato's dying wish" Sarutobi explained with conviction.

"That's all good, and I admire your new outlook on things, but where does my ROOT fit into things?" Danzō asked curiously.

An almost wicked smile formed on the elderly Hokage's face. "What better way to heal a dying tree, than by starting at the roots. I do not intend to officially reinstate ROOT, and so long as it remains in the shadows, it can be of use to me. With your help, we could reshape Konoha into something to be respected and feared, but also loved and admired"

"And what if I refuse to help you? What if I use this as an opportunity to stab you in the back and take the title of Hokage all for myself?" Danzō inquired seriously.

"You and I both know that you aren't that cold hearted. Plus, with us working together like this, we will be able to have a say in what goes on in each other's area of the village. I get to alter how ROOT members are trained slightly, while you help me shape up the actual shinobi forces into something worthy of the village," Hiruzen said with a smile.

"I am wondering if you have perhaps lost your mind, but if since you are beginning to think more like me, I wouldn't so casually call you crazy just yet" Danzō muttered quietly.

"What was that?" Hiruzen asked with a glare.

"Nothing" he answered quickly.

"So do you wish to aid me in rebuilding this village?"

Danzō remained silent for a few moments, thinking over everything that Hiruzen had said. He could definitely see the benefits of such an alliance between them, and with the old Sarutobi allowing him to make suggestions to how Konoha did things, it opened up several opportunities. For one, his influence on things would carry more weight without him ever having to put himself directly in the spotlight, and he would be able to continue his shadowy activities with ROOT more leniently.

Pausing his thoughts momentarily, Danzō took another look at the practically comatose boy whose room they occupied. He didn't care all too much for the boy, even though he knew of the boy's parents, and was generally indifferent to what happened to him. If it was possible, he would gladly take the boy and train him as a weapon, as most jinchuuriki were; but should he be unable to obtain the boy, it would not be a huge loss. But the most important unasked question was still lingering in his mind. Why had Sarutobi decided to ask for his help so soon, and what did it have to with the boy.

"I accept, but first I need to know how this involves Naruto" he finally replied.

"Naruto can wait. I have plans for him, but they can wait until after he has recovered. However, you should know that he will play a key role in changing the village; if he wishes to of course" Hiruzen said.

Danzō gave his friend an odd questioning stare. "You won't force him to be a part of it?" he asked.

"No, I will not. Naruto will choose for himself, although I don't think he will hesitate to accept once I tell him what I want him to do" the Hokage answered with a gentle smile.

"Yes, the boy is quite insistent on becoming a ninja. A chance to personally help the Hokage make the village better would be nothing short of a dream come true for him" Danzō reasoned.

"Hopefully he sees it that way"

A calm silence settled on the room for a few minutes as the old rivals processed the fact that they were now allies once again. The only sound that interrupted the still night was the continuous beeping of the heart monitor connected to Naruto.

"I have something to show you. I was planning on keeping it a secret, but with this new alliance I believe it best to show my trust and allow you access to ROOT headquarters," Danzō said quietly. "I also believe that what I wish to show you will come in handy, especially if your plans for Naruto are what I think they are"

Hiruzen nodded. "Just make sure you have some of your men guard this room. At least I can rest easy knowing that ROOT won't be swayed by their own emotions," he said.

"I have had my men guarding it ever since he arrived. I might not care what happens to the boy but I will not risk someone putting the village in danger just for something as petty as revenge," Danzō stated firmly.

Hiruzen calmly walked over to Danzō and placed a hand on his left shoulder. As soon as he did, they both vanished in a swirl of leaves.

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><p>ROOT headquarters was exactly how Hiruzen expected it to be. A dark and damp series of large tunnels that extended under most of Konoha, allowing quick access to most of the more important locations of the village, including the Hokage tower. It wasn't surprising to realise that Danzō had been operating right under everyone's nose, in a rather literally sense of the phrase.<p>

Without a word, Danzō began walking down one of the numerous tunnels, the old Sarutobi following shortly after. They walked for several minutes, neither saying a word to the other, and Hiruzen taking his time to observe the underground structure that had somehow gone unnoticed by most everyone in the village. He of course had known about it, but until now, he was under the assumption that it had been abandoned and unused for many years; oh, how wrong he was.

As they continued through the dark tunnels, Hiruzen noticed that the walls were quickly becoming much cleaner than they had been, along with several dull lights illuminating the tunnel up ahead. He guessed that they were finally reaching one of the actual base structures, of which he was sure there were many scattered throughout the underground maze.

"This is the medical section of ROOT. We usually only have to use it for new recruits, but thankfully it is fully capable of handling anything the hospital on the surface can" Danzō explained casually.

He quickly led the Hokage to the furthest medical room within the facility. Sarutobi noticed almost immediately, that temperature began declining drastically the closer they got to the room. It became concerning when each room they past appeared to have frost forming of the observation windows, and even more so when he noticed frost forming on the walls and floor. He could just feel that whatever Danzō was about to show him would be something to amaze.

They quickly reached the door of the furthest room, which had been almost completely frozen shut. The hallway that they stood in was ridiculously cold, with ice forming on almost every surface; Hiruzen considered using a fire jutsu to warm himself up, but he quickly stomped that idea out of his head.

"You might want to start circulating fire chakra through yourself, it's several degrees colder inside the room, and I am not in a position to explain how the Hokage froze to death," Danzō said with concealed amusement.

Hiruzen nodded before taking a deep breath and blowing out a steady stream of fire, which melted a small amount of ice on the floor. He was shocked to see the melted puddle of water quickly refreeze within seconds, and he was beginning to wonder just how cold it was in here. A quiet sigh of relief escaped him as he circulated the fire chakra throughout his body, its heat serving to warm him up in moments.

Once he was ready, Danzō opened the door. Unsurprisingly, it required some effort to break the ice that had formed around the door frame, and eventually the old war hawk was forced to use a small fire jutsu just to open the door far enough. The cold air that was instantly sucked from the room hit Hiruzen dead on and nearly froze the old man solid, something that Danzō thought of as amusing if the smile on his face was any indication.

"What on earth do you have locked up in here that can do this?" Hiruzen asked as his teeth chattered uncontrollably, a rather comedic sight to see.

"That" Danzō answered simply as he pointed to a bed in the centre of the room.

Hiruzen looked inside the room and towards where Danzō was pointing, his eyes widening to comical proportions as soon as he realised what he was looking at. Lying in the bed in the centre of the room was a young boy, probably a couple of years older than Naruto. He appeared to be in rough shape since most of his body was covered in bandages; the most heavily bandaged area's appeared to be the boys left arm, right leg, and his eyes.

Turning back to his old rival, Hiruzen gave the man a stern look. "Explain," he said calmly.

"I had ROOT raid one of Orochimaru's bases, which I found within fire country a few months ago" Danzō began. "They didn't find anything useful. All the test subjects had been slaughtered and mostly frozen; a lot of the base itself had been destroyed and frozen as well. Nothing in the base was salvageable, or so we thought"

The old war hawk took a deep breath of his own before breathing out a small stream of fire; it was incredibly cold inside the room after all. "We found this boy locked away in what appeared to be a sort of 'bunker' type room that was fitted with incinerators. Fortunately, the incinerators had been frozen, and the boy was still alive. From what we gathered, it seems he was one of Orochimaru's more powerful test subjects that failed miserably," he explained.

"What was he trying to accomplish with an ice user?" the Hokage questioned seriously.

Danzō snapped his fingers and a ROOT agent quickly entered the room holding a small file. The man quickly handed the file to Danzō before bowing and walking out of the room. The crippled elder handed Hiruzen the file and gestured for him to have a look.

"From what we did manage to dig out of the bases still functioning computers, the boy was not originally an ice user. It seems Orochimaru was playing with fusing chakra natures to make Kekkei Genkai; but he was also attempting to create something else entirely"

Hiruzen's eyes widened as he read further through the file. "He was trying to create a Rinnegan," he said in mild shock as he remembered that the boy's eyes were heavily bandaged. "Did he succeed?" he asked quickly.

"No" Danzō answered in slight disappointment. "Although, that doesn't mean he failed either," he added as he once again gestured to the file.

The elderly Hokage quickly began to read through the remaining notes of the file, his eyes narrowing more and more with each page he read. Once he finished reading it, he closed it and sighed in relief.

"Well, it's not a Rinnegan; thank Kami for that because I don't think anyone could stop him if he obtained that kind of power. However, this is a drastic change from his original goal of obtaining a Sharingan, perhaps he has given up on it" Sarutobi said hopefully.

"I doubt it. This is more than likely a mere side project for him; it would be devastating if he possessed both a Sharingan and a Rinnegan," Danzō countered.

"Still, the power this boy possesses is incredible. Even if he can't gain full access to what is theorised in these notes, he will still be a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, I can't see him being able to use his abilities to their full potential; the raw amount of chakra it would require to do so without killing him would be impossible to possess without becoming a jinchuuriki"

Danzō smirked. "That's why I need your help. With your consent, I am confident in my ability to train this boy to be able to use his powers to the best of his abilities; in fact, I think we could even incorporate him into your plan for Naruto. The two have the potential to become incredibly powerful shinobi, it only makes sense that they work together," he suggested with a smile.

"Are you confident this will work? Not that I don't see your point, but we aren't even sure that either of the boys will agree to go along with it"

"Don't worry about this one, he already agreed to my training several weeks ago. All that's left is to introduce the two and let things go from there"

"What if they do not get along?" Hiruzen asked.

"You and I both know that Naruto has an irritating ability to get people to like him, one way or another. If we are lucky it will work, and we will have a highly powerful two man team at our disposal," Danzō answered.

"Very well, but I will only use them in our plans if they agree to it. I might have had a change of heart but I will not force children to do something they do not wish to do" Sarutobi replied.

"So be it. I suggest we return to our duties and think over what we plan to do for the future of the village. We can meet again tomorrow to discuss things in finer detail"

"That sounds reasonable. I'll be going then, I still need to check on Naruto once more before I return to the office," Hiruzen said wearily.

"Before you go, I need to ask you something," Danzō said quickly.

Sarutobi paused and looked questioningly at his old friend. "And that would be?"

"Do you know?" the war hawk asked seriously, gesturing subtly to his bandaged arm.

The old Hokage smiled kindly and nodded his head. "Yes, I know exactly what you have under those bandages old friend, and I don't hold it against you. The Uchiha clan needed to be taken out, and I was too weak to do what needed to be done; I don't blame you for making the most of an opportunity like that, it is was ninja do is it not" he said quietly. "Who knows, it might be invaluable later on in our plans"

"I suppose that is one way of looking at it. I will see you tomorrow then; hopefully Naruto will have recovered by then" Danzō said before he walked out of the uncomfortably cold room.

Hiruzen took another look at the boy who was on the bed. From the file he had read, he knew that boy was nine years old, and he didn't match any blood samples they had, both standard and classified. If the old Sarutobi were to wager a guess, he'd say that his traitorous student had created the boy from scratch. That meant that the boy could potentially belong to multiple clans at the same time, or none at all; it also meant that he would have to be placed into a clan before others tried to claim him for their own.

This kind of thing had happened before; where orphans or clan-less individuals showed extreme potential in the ninja arts and were sought out by powerful clans in hopes of bolstering their reputation or power. If he was created from the blood of multiple clans then there would be chaos, unless of course, he was already enlisted into the care of a clan.

A sly smile formed on the old mans wrinkled face, a childish gleam shimmering in his dark eyes. He knew exactly how to fix this problem in a way that would not only save him from many a headache, but also push both the boy and Naruto closer together. A smug expression took over his features as he mentally patted himself on the back for being such a cunning old man. When Naruto woke up, he would be in for one hell of a surprise.

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><p>As soon as he woke up, Naruto knew exactly where he was. If it wasn't for the fact that he was still hurting all over then it would be the ever present smell of bleach and blood that always accompanied the hospital. This time however, there was one small difference; it was freezing cold. Naruto had been in the hospital enough times to know that the temperature never got too cold, and this definitely classified as cold.<p>

"Damn, they locked me in a freezer didn't they" he muttered in irritation.

The villagers had always hated him, and the numerous beatings he had received from them had cemented that point into his mind. But locking him inside of a freezer and leaving him to die was a new level of low, even for them. He didn't even know there was a freezer in the hospital large enough to lock him in.

A quiet chuckle disturbed Naruto's inner thoughts. Opening his bright blue eyes, he realised that he wasn't actually locked in a freezer, just a really cold hospital room. The chuckle got louder as he looked around curiously, until his eyes locked onto the elderly Hokage sitting in the corner of the room. The old man was smiling warmly, smoking on a pipe, with a large fur coat draped over him.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up old man. Its fine when you aren't the one freezing," Naruto said angrily as he jumped out of his hospital bed.

He walked over to one of the chairs in the room which had his clothes folded on it. He quickly got dressed, only to find that it didn't help with the cold and he was still shivering slightly.

"Hey old man, why is it so cold in here?" he asked loudly.

"Sorry, I can't help it," answered a meek voice from behind him.

Naruto spun around quickly and locked his eyes onto the third occupant of the room. It was a boy, probably a couple of years older than him, with short shaggy grey/white hair. He couldn't make out much else in regards to the boys appearance, since most of the boy's body was covered in bandages, especially his eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked loudly; apparently, he couldn't say much without being overly loud.

"Naruto, I want you to meet your adopted brother. This is Izo Uzumaki," Sarutobi said with a mischievous smirk on his face.

The overly loud yell that quickly followed was like music to his aging ears. Things were going to change, and it was going to be fun.


	2. Ramen and Revenge

Authors Notes:

Here's the second chapter of my second fanfic, i hope you all enjoy. Any and all reviews are appreciated and encouraged so say whatever comes to mind; also, if anyone manages to find a mistake in any of my chapters please point them out to me. I usually write, edit, and publish these chapters within 3-4 hours so i'm not entirely confident in my ability to write flawlessly.

Any suggestions on the possible pairing decisions for Naruto and my OC are welcome, just leave a review and ill consider who i choose. As it stands, i do have a plan of sorts for Naruto, but my OC is open game.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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><p>Naruto stared at the Hokage in curiosity. The old man was still smiling warmly, and gave an occasional chuckle at his curious expression, but Naruto was still suspicious. Not two minutes had passed since he had been told of his new adopted brother and so far, no one had said anything. He himself was busy trying to search the Hokage's expression for sign of this being some cruel joke, while the old man in question continued to smile as if he hadn't said a thing.<p>

The apparently named Izo hadn't so much as moved since the announcement. From what Naruto could guess, due to the large amount of bandages wrapped around the boy's eyes, he was listening intently to what was going on within the room. For a minute or so, Naruto actually wondered what it would be like to not be able to see, only to realise that it must have been horrible and quickly banished such thoughts to the deep dark parts of his mind.

"Is everything ok?" Izo asked quietly. He had begun to worry about the awkward silence that had settled upon the room.

"Everything is fine Izo, although I think it might take Naruto here a while to process things," Hiruzen said calmly.

"Old man, what the hell is going on here? What do you mean my adopted brother, does this mean I was adopted?" Naruto asked in slight shock as he stared at Hiruzen hopefully.

The elderly Sarutobi chuckled at the boy's energy. Only he was capable of acting as if nothing had happened less than a day after being put in the hospital.

"No Naruto, you weren't adopted" he answered, resulting in the blondes hopeful expression to fall from his face. "But Izo here has been adopted into your clan" he added, gaining a confused look from the boy.

"But I don't have a clan" Naruto said quietly.

The smile on the Hokage's face widened ever so slightly. "Actually, as the only Uzumaki in the village, you have the ability to adopt people into your family. Should your family gain enough members, then it would be eligible for a spot on the council and recognition as a clan," he explained.

Naruto gained a thoughtful expression as he processed the information he was being told. He may have been bright for his age, even if most would argue otherwise, but he was still only seven years old; no matter how bright he was it still took him a while to completely understand things.

"So if I can adopt people into my family, then how did he get adopted without me knowing?" he asked while pointing to Izo.

Hiruzen let out another light chuckle. "Because I adopted him into your family, and yes I _can_ do that; being Hokage does have its advantages after all," he said, adding the last part quickly when he saw Naruto about to say something.

"But that's unfair!" Naruto whined.

"Oh is it now. Am to understand that you do not want Izo to be your brother?" Sarutobi asked with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but quickly snapped it shut and thought. He turned and looked at the bandaged boy across the room, who remained quiet and calm as he listened to what was being said.

"No offense, but I don't know anything about you" he said apologetically.

Izo shrugged nonchalantly. "That's fine, I don't know you either so call it even" he replied casually.

"Perhaps you two should get better acquainted, ill return later and you can decide whether or not you wish for me to make the adoption permanent," Hiruzen suggested. "I also have some other matters of which to discuss with the both of you, but those can wait for later; for now, why don't you show Izo around the village Naruto, he hasn't been here before and I'm sure he would be grateful"

Naruto grumbled at the old man. "Fine, but it won't do much good if he can't see"

"You don't need to worry about that, I'm sure he'll manage," the aging Hokage said as he looked to the ash grey haired boy. "Won't you Izo?"

"Sure, I guess" the boy answered simply.

"Good. I will see you both this afternoon," Hiruzen said before leaving the boys alone in the still very cold room.

Another awkward silence fell upon the room as Naruto studied the older boy cautiously. Izo, for his part, was content to wait for Naruto to say something, but it also seemed that the blonde was more than happy to keep staring at him. Izo calmly reached up and pulled apart the bandages wrapped over his eyes, making a small gap over his left eye.

Naruto instantly tried to peer at what was underneath the bandages, but the gap was too thin and the bandages overshadowed whatever was underneath them making it impossible to see his eye. That only made things worse for Naruto since he always hated not knowing things, and if this guy was going to be his brother then he wanted to know as much as he could.

"I do believe it's considered rude to stare" Izo said quietly.

"Says the guy whose staring right back at me" Naruto said quickly.

"Touché. Perhaps we could start on the tour you were meant to give me, I would like to know more about my new home" he replied casually.

"Ok, but after we get something to eat cause I'm starving!" the blonde exclaimed.

"Fair enough. Got anything in mind?"

"Do you like ramen?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Izo tilted his head slightly in confusion. "What's a ramen?" he asked.

And just like that, Naruto fainted.

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><p>Hiruzen openly laughed at the scene of Naruto fainting as he watched the two boys through the crystal orb on his desk. He knew that there were going to be comedic moments between the two, especially after he had a short talk with Izo while they waited for Naruto to wake up; but he never expected to be laughing this early in the plan.<p>

"It's good to see you're enjoying yourself Sarutobi," said Danzō as he walked out of the shadows in the far corner of the room.

"Can you blame me when we're leaving Naruto of all people to teach Izo the basics of normal life? We left one of the most uncivilised people in the village to teach an uncivilised boy how to be civilised; if anyone learnt of this, we would be the laughing stock of the village" Hiruzen said cheerfully.

"Indeed, but at least they seem to be getting along, or at least they were until Naruto fainted" Danzō replied with a smirk.

"Don't worry, he will be awake soon and I'm sure he will be dragging Izo to Ichiraku ramen as quickly as humanly possible"

"If that boy turns out to have the same addiction as the jinchuuriki, then this Ichiraku ramen will become the richest business in the elemental nations. Power won't matter when they buy the world out from under us," the old war hawk said with mock concern.

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "Let us pray that Izo does not take a liking to ramen"

"Well, theatrics aside, how fares Naruto? Did he recover mentally?" Danzō asked.

"From what I've seen so far, Naruto has simply brushed the incident off as he has the others. There may be repercussions later on, but until it happens, we will have no idea how seriously it affected him. As it stands, I'm not even sure Naruto actually remembers what they did to him; he did wake up thinking they had locked him in a freezer after all," the Hokage said solemnly.

"Yes, it seems Izo has gained enough control over his chakra to stop freezing things solid while he is awake; unfortunately, he is still unstable while unconscious. Hopefully this will correct itself over time with the correct training," the 'crippled' elder said.

"Hopefully. For now why don't we discuss what we plan to do with our new found alliance; I would like to start on minor changes to ROOT if that's ok" Hiruzen said calmly.

"Is there any particular reason you wish to begin changing ROOT so soon?" Danzō asked.

Hiruzen smiled mischievously. "My plans will require you and your organisation to kick start things. After that, I will require your personal insight on ways to improve the village; I trust we can come to an understanding on most things" he said happily.

Danzō smirked at his old friend and sat down in the chair opposite Hiruzen. "I think that this will be a very beneficial arrangement, for both of us"

"I think so too," agreed Sarutobi.

* * *

><p>"What the hell do you mean you don't know what ramen is?" Naruto yelled in disbelief.<p>

Izo stared at Naruto in irritation as he held his hands over his ears. He was not aware that people could be so loud, and thanks to several weeks of being blindfolded, his hearing had been amplified, making the yelling even more unbearable. He was beyond thankful that he was out of the test facility, but if this was the torture that he would be forced to suffer with to be free, well let's just say he'd rather die.

"Would you mind being quieter. Your yelling hurts my ears," he said calmly. "And to answer your question, I have never heard of ramen before, and therefore I don't know what it is"

Naruto just stared at the bandage covered boy in shocked disbelief. The concept of someone not knowing what ramen was, was the closest thing to a real life horror story he had ever heard of; it almost didn't compute in his mind.

"Blasphemy!" he yelled loudly, making Izo grit his teeth. "I am taking you to Ichiraku ramen right now!" he exclaimed just as loudly before literally dragging Izo from the room.

The looks the boys received from those they passed in the hospitals hallways were…odd. As it turned out, seeing a small blonde haired boy drag a heavy bandaged boy through the hospital was not a common occurrence. Many they walked past gave the two looks of confusion and concern, until they realised exactly who Naruto was; once they did, the confusion turned to disgust and the concern turned to hatred.

Luckily, any negative looks aimed at Naruto didn't last very long. Many were traded for worried looks at the heavily bandaged Izo who appeared to be getting guided along forcefully by the blonde child. Despite this, Naruto continued to lead Izo out of the hospital and onto the streets heading straight for his all-time favourite place to eat.

It didn't take long for them to reach Ichiraku ramen, something that Izo was grateful for; being guided around like a blind person by a loud brat that was supposed to be his new brother was not something he took pride in. Either way, he was glad to know that Naruto hadn't outright refused the Hokage's proposal. He didn't know what it was like to have a little brother, or any family for that matter, but he was intrigued by the idea of having one.

"Welcome to Ichiraku ramen!" Naruto proclaimed loudly.

Izo actually lost his cool, pun intended, and smacked Naruto up the side of his head.

"I can read perfectly fine, so stop yelling everything!" he said harshly.

Naruto rubbed the spot where Izo had hit him and pouted. "You know, if you want me to adopt you as my brother, you're going to have to be nice. So far you're walking on thin ice," he said crossly.

"If you even want me to consider accepting the idea of being your brother, then you're gunna have to stop being so loud" Izo countered.

"You aren't my brother yet so you can't tell me what to do!" Naruto yelled.

"If you don't stop yelling I'll be your murderer!" Izo yelled back.

"Well you're yelling at me too now, so you can't get angry at me for yelling!"

"You were yelling first!"

"That's not the point!"

"It's exactly the point!"

"Both of you stop yelling or else!" screamed a female voice from the ramen stand.

Naruto and Izo stopped yelling at each other and turned to see who had interrupted their argument. Standing in front of the ramen stand was a young girl in her early to mid-teens; she had long brown hair, brown eyes, and a white bandana tied around her head. She was standing there glaring at the boys while holding a ladle in a somehow threatening manner.

"Oh, hey Ayame, how are things?" Naruto asked casually, trying to hopefully reduce the tension that hung in the air.

"Things were fine, until you decided to start a very loud argument with a poor injured boy. Why would you pick a fight with someone who can't even see?" she asked crossly.

Izo smirked at his luck; apparently, this Ayame girl hadn't been around to hear him say that he could read fine, meaning that he could use this to his advantage. He could tell that this girl had some form of connection with Naruto, and as had been the oh so elegant saying of old, payback was indeed a bitch.

"But he _can_ see, and he isn't even hurt that bad!" Naruto whined pitifully.

Izo swiped 'blindly' at Naruto and missed by a long shot. Growling in irritation, he attempted several more times before sighing in defeat and hanging his head.

"Hey, uh, Ayame or whatever your name is, could you please hit him?" he asked while looking around 'blindly'. "I'd do it myself but I can't see him"

"No problem" Ayame answered as she walked up to the boy in question.

Naruto smiled nervously, holding his hands up in surrender, as he looked at the ladle she held tightly in her hand. Normally, such an item would be incapable of registering as threatening in any sense of the word; however, when said ladle is in the hands of an angry Ayame, the dangerous possibilities were endless.

"You wouldn't hit me, would you?" he asked weakly.

The sadistic smile that formed on Ayame's face, combined with the murderous glint in her brown eyes, was all the response Naruto needed before he began to run from the older girl.

* * *

><p>"I hate you," a battered and bruised Naruto said weakly to a particularly smug looking Izo.<p>

"I am sure you do" Izo replied with a smile.

Both boys were sitting at Ichiraku ramen, Naruto making a point to sit as far away as he could from Izo. Unsurprisingly, Ayame had caught Naruto shortly after his break for freedom, and had proceeded to beat him senseless. She had then gone back to guide the 'poor blind' Izo into Ichiraku's, while promising to give him a free bowl of ramen and banning Naruto from eating any ramen for a week.

"Here you go!" Ayame exclaimed cheerfully as she placed a large bowl of ramen in front of Izo.

Izo smiled in appreciation as he reached out and brought the bowl closer. His smile grew wider as he heard Naruto grumble and mutter something about stupid big brothers, and so he took his sweet time in devouring the first mouthful he managed to get. Since he was remaining blindfolded so as to maintain the act in front of Ayame, it took slightly longer than it should have for him to actually manage said task.

"Ok, I really hate you" Naruto said.

"And now I'm very sure you do" Izo replied casually.

"Are you even going to eat that?" Naruto asked while staring longingly at the bowl of ramen sitting before the bandaged boy.

"Hmm, I suppose I could eat it for the sole purpose of pissing you off" Izo began with a thoughtful expression. "But, I find myself not particularly liking this ramen stuff, so I think I'll pass"

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously as he forgot all about the injuries he had sustained from Ayame. "Are you saying that you plan on wasting a perfectly good bowl of ramen, simply because you don't like it?" he asked angrily.

His eyes widened in shock as Izo pushed the bowl across the bench, allowing it to slide right in front of him. Naruto looked from the practically untouched bowl of heavenly goodness, to the half mummified and clearly insane person sitting on the other end of the bench. He repeated this action several times before giving Izo a curious stare.

"What are you playing at?" he asked accusingly.

Izo shrugged. "Nothing really, I don't like ramen, and you do; I figure it'd be better than leaving it to go to waste, and since Ayame said you weren't allowed to buy ramen for a week I thought you'd appreciate this one free bowl" he explained in a careless tone.

Naruto stared at Izo as if he had just handed him the Hokage's hat on a silver platter, which in Naruto's weird world of opinions was somehow equal to receiving a free bowl of ramen. Without even a single word of thanks, he inhaled the contents of the bowl within seconds, letting out a content sigh quickly after. It didn't take long for his eyes to widen in fear as Izo did something that would forever mark him as number one on his prank list.

"Ayame! Naruto took my ramen and ate it!" Izo yelled, adding a few quiet sniffles at the end for extra affect.

"Naruto!" Ayame yelled angrily from the back room of the store.

As Naruto tried to make yet another break for it, Izo reached out and grabbed him by his collar as he ran past; the older boy leaned over with a smug smirk until he was close enough that Naruto could literally smell the blood that was under all the bandages, something that slightly concerned the blonde.

"This is for not being quiet after I asked you nicely," he whispered. "Ignore me again and you'll end up with something much worse than a mere ass kicking and lack of ramen"

He calmly let go and leaned back, allowing Naruto to run off to who knows where. A few seconds, and several loud crashing sounds later, Ayame appeared from the back room. She looked at Izo, who was calmly sitting on his chair, and then to the empty bowl that had been left in front of the chair that Naruto had been sitting in. Her eyes narrowed in fury and she grabbed a much larger ladle than she had the first time she beat Naruto.

"Which way did he go?" she asked Izo quickly, only realising her mistake a second after the words had left her mouth.

"I…I don't know, I'm so sorry" Izo answered meekly while his bottom lip trembled.

Ayame's eyes widened. "Oh Kami, I am _so _sorry. I forgot," she said, running over to Izo and giving him a comforting hug.

Izo grinned victoriously as he wrapped his arms around the older girl. The sound of a man clearing his throat loudly made Ayame jump away from Izo, much to his disappointment.

"Don't you have a certain thieving brat to chase down?" the old man asked Ayame.

"Huh, oh Naruto, yeah I'll get right on that. But can you look after Izo, he can't see so keep an eye out for him ok, thanks dad" she said quickly before running off in the direction she thought Naruto had gone.

An awkward silence befell the ramen stand, making Izo wonder exactly how common awkward silences were in the outside world. He didn't move, and neither did the old man who he could tell was staring expectantly at him, as if awaiting some answers.

"You heard didn't you?" Izo asked.

"What, that you could see? Or what you said to Naruto as he made a run for it?" the old man asked calmly.

"Either" the ash haired boy replied.

"I have kept an eye on you and Naruto since you got within a hundred feet of this ramen stand. I'm not sure if I can hold anything you did to him against you, since I am more than aware of his excessive volume; however, I am not sure I can forgive you for lying to my daughter and using said lie to get a pity hug from her" the old man said.

"You are a disturbingly observant old man, you know that right?" Izo asked.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now, are you going to apologise for deceiving my daughter?" the man asked with a pointed glare.

"I ain't apologising for anything. I might not be able to see very well, but I know cute when I see it, and Ayame fits that description," he said, crossing his arms defiantly.

The tension in the area rose a significant amount as the old ramen chef continued to glare at the boy. Neither of them paid much attention to the high pitched screams that sounded off in the distance, but it did make Izo smirk slightly. That's when he realised something, which in turn raised a very important question.

"How did I not notice you?" he asked calmly.

"Ha, you're a great many years too young to learn about the ancient techniques passed down to every father in the elemental nations" the man answered.

"Interesting. Such a thing could do with some further investigation, all I need is a wife in a few years," Izo said thoughtfully before turning to stare straight at the old man. "What are the chances of Ayame being single in around eight years?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

The old man's face morphed into a much similar grin. "I think that is something you should ask her, don't you think Ayame?" he asked cheerfully.

The potent killing intent that was suddenly directed at Izo was without a doubt one of the worst experiences of his short life, and that's after being a test subject for Orochimaru. He had heard about the unmatched power that was bestowed upon females when angered, but until now, he didn't believe that it held much significance.

Turning around quickly, he was met with a clearly angry Ayame dragging a thoroughly beaten Naruto. He still didn't know how she was managing to make a ladle seem so threatening, but she was doing it none the less.

"Hey Ayame" he began nervously. "Now I'm sure you can find the funny side of this, right?"

Said girl smiled brightly as she carelessly dropped Naruto. "Oh, I can definitely see the funny side of it, and it involves me beating the crap out of a blind kid" she said sweetly.

Despite his best efforts, Izo ended up suffering the same fate as Naruto. It took both boys several hours before they were once again capable of walking to the Hokage's office, both vowing to undo the adoption made by the old, and clearly insane, old man.


	3. Four Simple Words

Authors Notes:

Hey guys, here's the next chapter, i hope you all enjoy. I want to point out that this chapter turned out a bit longer than what i usually write for my stories, i'm not sure if i will be increasing my chapter length for this story compared to my other one since this one has an actual plot of sorts, so don't complain about any future chapters being too short; if you want longer chapters, tell me and i will see what i can do.

Any and all reviews are accepted and appreciated, or in other words, if you have time to read this you have time to leave a comment or suggestion, i don't care how negative just leave one.

Also, I've slightly adjusted the age of my OC to 10 years old, making him 3 years older than Naruto instead of 2; my reasons for this are quite simple, i like the number 3.

To anyone who might be curious about the oh so common Japanese honorifics that are usually associated with Naruto fanfiction, such as 'Chan' 'Kun' 'Sama' and so on; i want to make it clear that these will not be thrown around like rice at a wedding. I might, stressing on the might here, use them more frequently later on, but for now they will only ever be used for sarcasm and to make a characters feelings of another more obvious.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure about this?" Danzō asked unsurely.<p>

"Absolutely" Hiruzen answered happily.

Both elderly men were sitting in the Hokage's office, having not long since concluded their discussion on how to start their plans to change Konoha for the better. Needless to say, Danzō wasn't all too sure about whether or not it would actually work. But after everything that had been discussed between them, he couldn't find any major flaws.

"So now all we need to do is wait around for the boys to get back and see what their answer is," Danzō said calmly.

"Yes, but don't worry, I am confident that they will agree. They probably had a great day of brotherly bonding," Sarutobi said with a warm smile.

"Hmm, I hope so. Most of the plans we have agreed on revolves completely around them; should they refuse, we will have to rethink a lot of things. I do wish you would just let me use my Sharingan to deal with them" Danzō replied grumpily.

"I may not hold those eyes against you, but I will be damned if I let you use them on Naruto and his newly adopted brother" the Hokage said crossly.

Danzō was interrupted from replying to Hiruzen, when a loud crashing sound came from outside the office. This was followed by what sounded like a high pitched squeal as a large orange object was thrown through the door. Hiruzen and Danzō both stared at the orange object that had landed rather unceremoniously on the floor, both quickly realising that it was a bloody and beaten Naruto.

Hiruzen gave the old war hawk a nervous smile as he chuckled quietly. He prayed that this was all just a big misunderstanding, an out of context disagreement between the boys that wouldn't completely ruin his plans. Looking to the doorway, he watched as an equally battered and bruised Izo staggered into the office, glaring at the younger blonde lying on the ground.

"Old man, I don't think me and Izo can be brothers," Naruto said with a pained cough.

"I think I agree with him, for the moment anyway," Izo muttered.

Sarutobi and Danzō shared a worried look before turning back to the boys with kind smiles, or a freaky looking grin in Danzō's case.

"What happened to you boys?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well Izo here decided it would be a good idea to play the poor blind kid act that got me banned from eating ramen at Ichiraku's for a week, and got me beaten up by Ayame. Then he tricked me into eating his free ramen which got me beaten up by Ayame for a second time" Naruto explained angrily.

"And why are you injured Izo?" Danzō asked.

"I may or may not have asked Teuchi about the chances of Ayame being single in a few years, which she may or may not have overheard and beat the crap out of me for" Izo answered casually. "That and I tricked her into hugging me by playing the blind kid act," he added.

"You tricked a girl into giving you a free bowl of ramen, beat up Naruto, and give you a hug, all by pretending to be blind?" Sarutobi asked curiously.

"No, I tricked a cute girl into those things; one must not forget that she is cute" Izo said proudly.

"Aren't you a little young to be thinking about girls?" Danzō asked dryly.

"I was speed grown in a test tube you old cripple, I doubt age works the same for me; as it stands I'm only ten, but mentally I could be anywhere" the ash haired boy countered.

"I suppose that makes some sort of sense, but don't you think calling me a cripple is somewhat hypercritical" the war hawk replied while subtly gesturing to the boys own bandaged limbs.

"Hey, who is this guy old man?" Naruto asked loudly, pointing at Danzō.

Hiruzen chuckled lightly. "This is Danzō Shimura, a very old friend of mine and a council elder. He was also the unofficial legal guardian of Izo until he was adopted into your family," he explained.

"Yeah, about that; we have decided against making it permanent, so you can just go ahead and undo all them fancy documents" Naruto said casually. Hiruzen remained silent as he smiled nervously, making Naruto worry slightly. "Old man?"

"Naruto, I'm afraid that the adoption is already permanent," the Hokage said with a nervous chuckle.

"What!" the boy yelled at the top of his lungs, receiving a powerful back hand from Izo.

"I told you before, stop yelling" Izo said through gritted teeth.

"Maybe I would if you'd stop hitting me all the time!" Naruto yelled as he picked himself up from the ground, only to be sent back down by yet another strong hit.

"I wouldn't have to hit you if you just learnt the first time," Izo said with a glare.

"I could learn if you stopped giving me a concussion before you tell me; it's not my fault that you knock the information out of head before it even sinks in," the blonde said angrily.

Izo stared blankly at Naruto, which looked incredibly creepy since he was still wearing the bandages over his eyes. He continued to stare until he finally hit Naruto again.

"That was for saying something so completely stupid. If I ever hear you saying something that stupid again I will kill you," he stated calmly.

Hiruzen and Danzō had been watching on silently as the violent interaction played out. Danzō sent an unsure look to his old friend, to which the old Hokage responded with another nervous chuckle; neither were very sure of how their plans would go after this…unfortunate outcome, if one could call it that.

"Boys" Hiruzen said, trying to gain their attention.

Several seconds passed in which neither boy took notice of the Hokage's rather irritated expression; instead opting to start a small brawl between each other in the middle of the office. Normally, such a scene would have been quite amusing for the old Sarutobi, but he still needed to explain some important things to the boys and he couldn't allow such shenanigans to continue, that would have to wait.

"Boys!" he yelled, managing to stop the fight in its tracks.

Naruto and Izo had stopped their fight in a somewhat amusing position, with Naruto biting down on Izo's left hand, and Izo preparing to punch the blonde in the face. Both looked at the Hokage in irritation, wondering what exactly the old man had interrupted them for.

"Thankyou. Now sit down, I have something to ask you Naruto" Hiruzen said sternly.

Both boys walked over and sat down in the chairs available, marvelling at how impossibly comfortable they were as they calmly observed the two old men sitting on the other side of the desk. Naruto was looking expectantly at Hiruzen, awaiting the question he wanted to ask him, while Izo stared blankly at Danzō, who returned the same look as if in some competition with the boy.

"What did you want to ask old man?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"I wanted to know what you want to do when you're older," Hiruzen said calmly.

"I want to be the best ninja ever, then I'll take that hat from you!" the boy exclaimed happily.

"I thought so," the Hokage said with a kind smile. "Well Naruto, to become the best ninja ever will require training and dedication. To become Hokage you will need to be prepared to put everything you have into serving Konoha, to risk your life for the village and its people, to be patient and learn everything you can to improve yourself. Do you think you can do that?" he asked seriously.

"Absolutely!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

Hiruzen and Danzō both adopted an unimpressed look. This wasn't something that one could just answer simply in a childish manner, and even if Naruto was only seven, both men knew that he was smart enough to understand the seriousness of the situation that being Hokage came with. They knew the boys heart was in the right place, and that his loyalty was practically unquestionable, something that Danzō was ecstatic about since he didn't need to worry about the boy betraying them.

"Naruto, this is not something to take lightly. I need to know if you are prepared to endure the pain and hardships that being a shinobi entail, I need to know that you will serve Konoha with everything, even to the point of giving your life to protect it. But more important than that, I need to know if you will trust me and follow any order I give you as the Hokage" Sarutobi said sternly, a serious expression adorning his wrinkled face.

"I know old man, and I am ready to do whatever it takes to fulfil my dream, believe it!" the blonde exclaimed loudly, grinning widely at the Hokage.

Izo calmly reached over and smacked Naruto up the back of the head, almost knocking the boy off his chair. "I clearly remember telling you to stop being so loud, and I'm going to start hitting you every time I hear you say 'believe it' at the end of a sentence" he threatened.

Danzō gave Hiruzen another unsure look; the interaction between the boys was not exactly what they had expected, but so long as they didn't kill each other and did as they were told then it would work out fine.

"Despite his methods, I have to agree with Izo; you are too loud and impatient, a trait that will get any rookie ninja killed quickly. You should learn to contain your excitement and focus on remaining silent and hidden," Hiruzen said to Naruto in a sagely tone.

"I do not see any problems with Izo's methods, they are blunt and get the point across clearly; although they could be slightly more painful," Danzō stated casually, gaining a shocked look from Naruto and a thankful look from Izo.

"I'm so glad someone understands" Izo said happily.

Sarutobi cleared his throat loudly, gaining the attention of his old rival and the heavily bandaged boy, before turning back to Naruto.

"Well then, since you seem so devoted to fulfilling your dream, I have only one more question. Would you want to receive exclusive training from both me and Danzō, along with several other highly skilled shinobi, in order to get a step closer to your dream?" Hiruzen asked.

"So I would be trained by both of you, and some other people, to be the best ninja ever?" Naruto asked while pointing at both elderly men.

Hiruzen and Danzō nodded, making the young blonde gain a thoughtful expression.

"Why?" he asked simply.

"Naruto, your entire life has been full of pain and suffering, loneliness that no child should ever have to endure, while being ignored and abused by those who should see you as a hero. I am ashamed to admit that I am the cause for a good portion of the suffering you have gone through, and even though I only played an indirect role, it was still a role I played in making your life miserable. My inability to stand for what is right and give you the life that you deserved is my greatest failure," the aged Hokage said sadly.

"All those times you woke up in the hospital, I would tell you that the villagers didn't know what they were doing, that they were too blind to see you for the hero you truly are. I would always tell you that it would all be ok, and that one day the villagers would realise that you are not a monster, one day you would be able to have a birthday where you didn't hide away in fear. But after so long of watching you suffer at the hands of those who claim to be doing good, of watching you hide behind that mask, I can no longer just sit back and lie to you"

"I am offering to train you because I intend to make up for the mistakes that I made, to make up for all the suffering I inadvertently caused you. Me and Danzō plan to change the village, mould it into something worth being proud of again; but to do so we will need loyal ninja to help us do it. We will train you to the best of our abilities, not only as an apology, but also to gain a loyal ninja to help us return the will of fire to Konoha and get you the respect you deserve"

"Old man, why do the villagers hate me?" Naruto asked hesitantly. "Is it…is it because of the Kyuubi?"

Hiruzen's eyes widened to comical proportions as he looked at Naruto in panic, Danzō doing almost exactly the same but still maintaining his calm façade. The only one not in a state of panic, or sadness in Naruto's case, was Izo, who was calmly sitting back in his chair, listening to what was happening around him carelessly. Izo already had a good idea of what Naruto was; he had been able to sense the foul chakra that was sealed inside the boy as soon as he entered his hospital room.

Orochimaru had a bad habit of rambling on about his plans while working on his experiments, one particular plan had something to do with a jinchuuriki, which is what he knew Naruto was considering the Hokage's reaction to Kyuubi being mentioned. He had to admit, he never expected Naruto to be the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, but he wasn't one to judge; being a test tube grown splicing experiment gave one a very open minded view on things.

This did raise a few questions though, such as why Naruto hadn't been taken and trained as a weapon like all of the other jinchuuriki had, and why the Hokage was so quick to trust him despite him being a not long since found experiment of the greatest traitor known to Konoha. Izo suspected that he would have to deal with a lot of odd and unexplainable things should he stay in the village, and since he was now legally Naruto's brother, there wasn't a chance in hell that he would leave.

"So, Naruto is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi" Izo said lazily, instantly gaining his little brothers attention and getting wide eyed stares from Hiruzen and Danzō.

"How do you know that?" Hiruzen asked dangerously, narrowing his eyes on the boy.

"Orochimaru mentioned jinchuuriki a few times while he was carving my insides up, and I can literally feel the Bijuu's chakra inside him. I'm amazed that he hasn't figured it out" the ash haired boy replied casually.

"What's a jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked curiously. "And what does this have to do with Kyuubi?"

"Jinchuuriki, meaning power of the human sacrifice, is what they call people with one of the tailed beasts sealed within them; more often than not, these people are feared, hated, abused, and forced to act as living weapons for the village they reside in" Izo explained before Hiruzen could make a sound.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes even more at Izo. "You seem to know a lot for a mere test experiment," he said accusingly.

"When I wasn't being tortured and carved up by someone, I would read. It was surprisingly easy to sneak into Orochimaru's library, and he had a lot of books on a lot of stuff, so I educated myself," he answered nonchalantly.

"Can we please get back to me for a second?" Naruto asked innocently. Everyone was still surprised that he had taken the whole jinchuuriki thing so well, except for Izo since he didn't really care too much about it.

"Yes, we can" Sarutobi said with a worried look. "Tell me how you know about the Kyuubi?" he asked seriously.

"I saw it a few times, after the villagers would beat me unconscious; it was never for very long, and it kept yelling at me for being weak, but it's been helping for a while," Naruto answered apprehensively.

"What do you mean by helping?" Danzō asked curiously, his one visible eye keeping a close watch on the boy.

"It whispers things, most of the time it just tells me to kill people, to slaughter the villagers for their ignorance" Naruto began, making Hiruzen and Danzō begin to worry. "I never listen to that, but other times it tells me how to do things; it tells me where to find food, and how to hide properly, it even told me how to properly use the henge jutsu"

A calm silence filled the office as Hiruzen and Danzō carefully processed the information that had just been dropped on their heads like a ton of bricks; Izo continued to remain impassive to his surroundings, waiting patiently for the Hokage to finish this extremely long discussion with Naruto. Said boy was waiting nervously for Hiruzen to say something in response to what he had said about the Kyuubi.

"Naruto, why did you never tell me that you saw the Kyuubi, or that it was whispering things to you?" Sarutobi asked as calmly as he possibly could. He couldn't stop a small amount of worry from leaking into his words, hoping that the Kyuubi hadn't somehow begun corrupting the child.

"I thought that no one knew; the Kyuubi kept yelling stuff about my father, calling him horrible names and saying it was his fault for it attacking Konoha. I thought that everyone hated me for something my father had done, and I didn't want to risk anyone finding out about Kyuubi talking to me, especially you" Naruto replied sadly.

"Naruto my boy, I can assure you that you father was a great man, the villagers only hate you because they see you as Kyuubi and blame you for the destruction it caused" Hiruzen said with a warm smile. "But I need to know, do you know who your parents are?" he asked.

Naruto shook his head sadly. "The Kyuubi never said their real names; he just calls them things and yells horrible stuff about them" he said before looking at Hiruzen pleadingly. "Can you tell me who my parents are?" he asked hopefully.

Hiruzen stared at the boy sadly. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I do not think you are ready to know that just yet, and I believe you have already been given enough to deal with for one day. However, should you agree to be trained by me and Danzō, it should not take very long for you to be ready to learn the truth" he said.

"Can I at least know if they are alive, if they abandoned me?" Naruto asked.

"They did not abandon you Naruto, and don't you ever think otherwise. They died protecting you, and no one could have ever known better people," the Hokage answered sorrowfully.

"Ok, I accept. I want you to train me to be the best ninja ever, and once I'm ready, I want you to tell me everything about my parents," Naruto said with determination burning in his bright blue eyes.

"That is good to hear, I have no doubt that you will achieve your dream," Sarutobi said happily. "But for now, I think its best that you go and relax; go and eat as much ramen as you want, I will cover the expenses. You and Izo can come back tomorrow, your new legal guardian should be here and I'm sure that she would like to meet the both of you"

"Legal guardian? Does that mean you put someone else in my family?" Naruto asked with a light glare.

Hiruzen chuckled at the boy's ability to change his mood so casually. "No Naruto, she hasn't been adopted into your family; but for the duration of time that you are being trained, she will act as your guardian and be responsible for teaching you while we are busy," he explained calmly.

"Oh, ok. But you are not allowed to add anyone else to my family without my say so, understand old man?" the blonde asked.

"Yes, I understand" Sarutobi answered with a light laugh. "Now go and eat some ramen, I'm sure that Ayame will forget about the ban if you tell her that I said you could; if she doesn't believe you, tell her to come see me" he said with a smile.

"Ok old man, see you tomorrow!" the orange clad jinchuuriki exclaimed as he ran out of the office.

Izo stood up from his chair and began walking after his new little brother.

"Izo wait" the Hokage said, making the boy pause and turn to face him.

"Yes?" he asked calmly.

"Can we trust you to not betray us? To look out for Naruto and serve us loyally?" the old man asked seriously.

"Naruto is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and my new brother, even if we don't particularly get along too well just yet. I barely know the kid, but I can tell he is one of the few in this world worth protecting, if only because he is so kind hearted. There are many people after him, and even more who would target him for what he is; but as long as I am around, I will protect him as best I can, just to spite that snake bastard that created me," Izo stated calmly.

"So to answer your question, no, you can't trust me. I will betray you without a second thought, and I will never serve anyone so long as I live. But I will protect Naruto, and I will do anything to help him accomplish this dream of his; so long as your plans help in that, I will follow along. Now if you'd excuse me, I have a cute ramen waitress to talk to," he said casually before walking out the door and closing it behind him.

Hiruzen and Danzō remained silent for several moments, both thinking over everything that had been said. The main concern they had was Naruto claiming to have been hearing the Kyuubi talk to him; the boy could have been hallucinating, but that was a very slim chance.

"Danzō, I think it's best that we keep an eye on Izo; I know he said he would protect Naruto, but should he react violently to the villagers there will be a slaughter. We do not yet know the full extent of his abilities, but if he can sense the Kyuubi so easily while it is sealed away, then I think it's safe to say that he is extremely talented," Hiruzen said calmly.

"Indeed, I will have some men tail the boys until further notice. But I must ask, is _she _really the best choice to look after them; after everything she has been through, I am not sure that it would be wise" Danzō said in concern.

"Do not worry about her, she is loyal to a fault and will care for the boys as she would her own; in fact, I think it will do her good, especially after what happened to her. I am still amazed that you managed to save her, despite her injuries," the aging Hokage said.

"She is too valuable to let die, both for her abilities and lineage," the old war hawk stated.

"That is true, she has become practically invaluable to the village; even more so now that she has agreed to go along with our plan," Hiruzen agreed.

"All that's left now, is to wait for those boys to be ready," Danzō said.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked down at the floor as he thought over everything he had learnt. He had learnt that his parents were dead, with no chance of ever seeing them or talking to them; and he had learnt that the villagers had hated him for the Kyuubi being sealed within him, which was something that didn't surprise him all too much.<p>

He wondered what Izo was thinking, and whether or not the older boy was just acting calm in front of the Hokage and would simply ignore and despise him when the old man wasn't around. Despite their not so pleasant interactions so far, he couldn't help but feel as though Izo cared about him in some twisted, vengeful, older brother kind of way; he would hate losing his chance of having a brother, even more than he would hate having to deal with him.

Without warning, Naruto was knocked forward by a strong hit to the back of his head before someone grabbed him by his collar and started dragging him out of the Hokage tower. He looked up and saw that it was Izo who was dragging him, and probably also the one who had hit him. Fear quickly began to fill him as he came to the conclusion that Izo was in fact only acting calm while in front of the Hokage.

Izo stopped dragging the smaller boy and turned to glare at him, well at least that is what Naruto assumed since it was very difficult to tell what he was actually doing while blindfolded with bandages.

"If you even think of crying, I will hit you again and drown you in a pot of ramen. Understand?" he asked harshly, receiving an extremely confused nod from the blonde. "Good. Now get moving, the Hokage is only paying for what you eat tonight and I plan to spend some good old quality time with sweet little Ayame-Chan" he said with an almost perverted grin.

Naruto's fear was instantly forgotten as he narrowed his eyes on his adopted brother. He stomped down on Izo's foot, causing him to release his collar, before tackling the older boy to the ground.

"You leave Ayame alone," the blonde growled.

Izo chuckled while ruffling the boy's hair. "Nice try brat, but you'll have to catch me first," he said with a smile.

Naruto blinked owlishly at Izo, making sure to clearly gesture to the fact that he was holding the boy down. Izo chuckled again and before Naruto could ask what was funny, he was thrown across the hallway and into a wall; he managed to get back to his feet just in time to see Izo running away from him and out of the Hokage tower, laughing the whole time.

He quickly ran after the ash haired boy, intending on catching him before he reached Ichiraku's, but he was forced to stop suddenly as he felt something that chilled him to the bone. It wasn't exactly an uncommon feeling, but he knew that it was coming from the Kyuubi, and he knew that it was a warning of some sort; he couldn't tell exactly what the fox was trying to warn him about, but since the feeling was so strong and had yet to completely fade, he knew it was important.

That's when he heard it. It was only a whisper, as was anything that the beast said, but the message itself was what concerned him. The Kyuubi usually didn't like to talk, preferring to evoke certain feelings and emotions into Naruto and leaving the boy to figure out the rest; but every now and again, the beast would talk, leaving Naruto with small hints of invaluable knowledge, or a direct warning of which none had led him astray.

This warning was different. The feeling was stronger, more direct and potent, as if it was more personal than a simple heads up. And this whisper held more weight than the others normally did, echoing in his mind over and over again, making him wonder just how valid this particular warning could possibly be. In the end, Naruto managed to shrug most of the feeling off; but the whisper remained ingrained into his mind, as four simple words that he felt would one day come to haunt him.

**"Don't trust that boy" **


	4. Legal Guardian

Authors Notes:

Here's the next chapter, i hope that you enjoy cause this is the last chapter before a time skip. I am amazed by the fact that this story already has more than double the amount of followers than my first story has, probably got something to do with this one actually having Naruto in it but oh well.

Anyway, i want to remind everyone to please leave a review on what you think so far and leave any suggestions you might have. 10 points to whoever can guess who Kana really is, it's pretty easy so i'm expecting most of you guys to figure it out quickly.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but i did purchase a square metre block of land on the moon which i happen to be rather proud of.

* * *

><p>Izo had a headache. It wasn't one of those every day ones either, no, this was one of those skull splitting, vision blurring, ear ringing, queasy feeling kinda headaches. He wished that it had been the results of a hangover caused by an awesome night of many sinful activities, the likes of which he had heard and read a lot about, but unfortunately, it was not to be.<p>

Instead of the almost fatal hangover that he longed for, Izo's headache was the result of both a lack of sleep, and having to deal with quite possibly the loudest kid in the world. The lack of sleep was something he had to deal with unless he wanted to freeze Naruto's apartment solid, with the boy inside; but the overly loud volume of his new brother was not something he wanted to have to deal, nor should he be forced to.

Things had gone rather smoothly after they had left the Hokage tower, although Naruto kept looking at Izo with what seemed like worry. They had gone to Ichiraku's, and almost received another beating from Ayame due to Izo's comments; thankfully, she agreed to serve them and even removed Naruto's week long ban, something that had the blonde haired boy screaming in joy about for at least an hour.

It didn't take very long for Naruto to think over everything that had been said in the Hokage's office, which in turn raised some questions about Izo. Said boy had to spend the rest of the night explaining to Naruto what he was, where he came from, along with the definitions for several big words he had used in his explanation. It was agonising to talk to a seven year old when you yourself thought on a completely different level, Izo wasn't sure how the Hokage coped with it.

Anyway, after several hours of explaining things to Naruto, Izo awaited some form of negative reaction from his adopted sibling; what he got was not what he expected. Without so much as a shocked look, Naruto simply said 'cool' and cooked himself some ramen, completely ignoring Izo's gob smacked expression. Needless to say, Naruto didn't ask too many more questions after that.

So now here he was, waiting patiently for Naruto to finally wake up so they could go and visit the Hokage again and find out who was now their legal guardian. Izo didn't know anyone in the village, and he wasn't sure if Naruto had any idea's on who it might be, but one things was for certain; if this person wasn't right for the job, or did anything against Naruto, they would die a very slow and very painful death by being frozen alive.

_'I wonder what it feels like to get frozen' _he thought to himself.

Due to his condition, Izo couldn't feel the cold, or be effected by the cold either, meaning he couldn't freeze. It would have been very helpful had he been required to fight someone from the Yuki clan, but that clan had long since died out. His condition also gave him a high immunity to heat as well, since his core body temperature was so drastically low that it would take some extreme heat to actually cause him any harm, but without further training, a strong fire jutsu would probably do the trick.

Unfortunately, this also made sleeping rather challenging, since as soon as he was unconscious he would lose control over his chakra and it would freeze everything around him. Naruto may have been annoying as hell, but that didn't mean he wanted to freeze the kids apartment. An irritated sigh escaped Izo as he wondered if he would have to wake his brother up himself, he made a note to sort that problem out quickly, more so if Naruto wanted to become a ninja.

A loud knock on the door distracted him from his evil plans on how to wake up Naruto, and whilst muttering some choice curses, Izo go up and walked to the door. During his short little walk through the apartment, he was once again reminded of the true extent of how much of a shithole the place really was. He doubted that it was because Naruto was messy, and more likely had something to do with the glares and disgusted looks the blonde was receiving from the general population.

Izo wasn't stupid, far from it in fact; if he was stupid Orochimaru would have killed him long ago. But with intelligence came realisation, and most of what he realised about Naruto's situation wasn't all too pleasing. He knew it was safe to assume that the people of Konoha hated the boy for being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, despite the fact that most of them should know better.

This realisation however, raised a very important question for Izo. If the village hated Naruto, an easily likable little boy, simply because he was a jinchuuriki, then what the hell would they do once they found out that he was a force grown experiment created by the villages most notorious traitor. Izo wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to find out, but he was also confident in his ability to look after himself should problems arise; the main issue was looking after Naruto.

He opened the door sharply, noting that whoever it was took a cautious step back as he did so. He also heard the almost inaudible gasp from the person, likely a reaction from seeing a boy covered in bandages; Izo wasn't entirely sure whether or not it would be wise to let people know that he could literally smell the difference between male and female, particularly the woman standing at the door, since it might get him beaten again.

Izo wasn't an impatient person, most of the time, but after a few seconds of silence, he was beginning to get annoyed by whoever the hell was standing in front of him. He could already get a good read of her chakra, which was somewhat small compared to both himself and Naruto, and he could clearly tell that she had no ill intentions by being here; if anything, she was overly nervous for reasons he wasn't sure of.

"Um, hello, are you Naruto Uzumaki?" she asked meekly.

Izo quirked an eyebrow at that question, something that went completely unseen thanks to the bandages around his eyes and forehead. "Shouldn't a member of ANBU know what Naruto looks like, you know, considering his unique circumstances?" he asked back.

The woman took another small step back from the door, making sure to observe the boy in front of her more closely. From what she could see, he was a simple civilian boy that was covered in bandages, something that had shocked her at first since whatever injuries he had must have been severe to warrant such excessive use of the material. The fact that his eyes were completely covered by the bandages was also a noteworthy fact, since she knew that there was no way he could see her unless he was a Hyuuga.

"How do you know I'm an ANBU?" she asked with much more confidence than before. "And who are you, or more importantly, how much do you know about Uzumaki's…condition?"

"I am Izo Uzumaki, Naruto's older brother, meaning that I am privileged to any and all information about my family. As for how I know you're an ANBU, well let's just say that those masks you all wear kinda give it away," Izo answered casually.

"Where is Uzumaki?" she asked calmly, although she was keeping a close eye on the 'blind' kid.

"He…is still asleep. Would you like me to wake him up?" he asked hopefully.

"No, that's ok, ill will just come back another time" she replied.

The woman turned to walk away, only to find a dome of solid ice surrounding her, blocking her in the door way. _'What the hell, how did I not notice this?' _she thought in slight panic. Ice was, for a lack of better words, a very fucking rare element to be seen used; it was also notorious for being highly deadly even in the hands of a novice.

"I haven't been in this village too long, but even I know that a member of ANBU does not simply drop by people's houses without some kind of message from the Hokage; even more so when the owner of said residence is the local jinchuuriki" Izo stated calmly. "So tell me, why are you looking for my brother?" he asked.

Izo was more than prepared to wait patiently for a reply, he did have her cornered after all, so long as he maintained the ice dome, she wouldn't be going anywhere. That said, he wasn't in any way ready for her to release a surprisingly powerful pulse of chakra that not only threw him off his feet, but also shattered his ice dome. He didn't need to check to know that she was long gone by the time he hit the floor.

_'Note to self: do not try to bluff ANBU' _he though with a mental groan. Although the ice dome he had made looked solid and sturdy, it was nothing more than a thin sheet; a simple punch would have been enough to break it. Of course, the ANBU didn't know that, hence the overkill of a chakra pulse. Let it not need be said that Izo had learnt a valuable, and painful lesson.

"Izo, what happened?" Naruto asked tiredly as he stumbled out of his room.

"Naruto, do you know any ANBU?" Izo asked calmly.

"Um, not really; there used to be one with a dog mask and another with a weasel mask, they were both nice and they actually guarded me like they were supposed to" the blonde answered.

"Hmm, interesting" Izo muttered, still laying on the floor where he was thrown. "Well, that settles that then; hurry up and get ready, we still need to go meet the Hokage" he said, finally getting back to his feet and dusting himself off.

"Don't worry about the old man, he usually has so much paperwork that he loses track of time. We could show up tomorrow and he wouldn't notice" Naruto replied.

Izo gave Naruto a blank stare. "If we are late, I will personally get you banned from Ichiraku's for a month," he said, his calm tone not once betraying his growing amusement.

Naruto's eyes snapped open from their half lidded state as he stared at his brother in horror. Normally he would have called such a statement an obvious bluff, but since he couldn't read Izo's expressions, and he honestly didn't know the older boy all too well, it simply wasn't worth the risk. Within seconds, Naruto was dressed and ready to go, even going so far as to literally drag Izo out of the apartment and towards the Hokage tower.

_'Hehe, thank Kami I found his kryptonite' _Izo cheered mentally. If Naruto was this easy to manipulate then the future was going to be a cake walk.

* * *

><p>Hiruzen glared at the piles of paperwork on his desk, Danzō watching on from the side with barely concealed amusement. They were both awaiting the eventual arrival of Naruto and Izo, whom would be meeting their new legal guardian. He hoped that the boys would take a liking to her, for all of their sakes. The old Hokage glanced over at his friend, taking notice of the amusement in the man's eye and felt the need to drag the smug bastard down with him.<p>

"You know Danzō, now that we are working together to better the village, perhaps we should divide the paperwork evenly, you know, to help you keep track of what's happening throughout the village" the old Sarutobi suggested with a smirk.

"I already receive copies of all the paperwork you get, aside from the more important documents of course" Danzō replied calmly.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes dangerously. "And how exactly do you have the time to not only look over all the paperwork I get, but also give orders to ROOT and complete all the paperwork that comes with that?" he asked seriously.

"You mean you don't know the secret?" Danzō asked in mock disbelief.

"What the secret?"

"Why the secret of paperwork of course?"

"What secret of paperwork?" Sarutobi yelled in frustration.

Danzō smirked victoriously. "I'm not sure if I should tell you, after all, it is a forbidden technique passed down from the second Hokage, our own sensei," he said smugly.

"That's impossible; if such a technique existed I would know about it, I know almost every single jutsu of our sensei. That aside, why wasn't I told of this technique, and how did Minato conquer his paperwork?" Hiruzen asked in confusion.

"You were not told because by the time you were instated as Hokage, sensei had sacrificed himself and therefore could not tell you of the technique himself. As for Minato, he used the exact same technique that Tobirama did" the old war hawk explained casually.

"Then how do you know of it?" the Hokage asked.

"Please Sarutobi, have more faith in my abilities; you might keep it locked up, but the forbidden scroll of seals is still not out of my reach, and I have read over its contents many times" Danzō answered, hinting quite clearly to the secret.

_'Wait a minute. Secret technique, passed down from Tobirama sensei, written in the scroll of seals; but only one technique in that scroll could be used for…oh Kami I'm an idiot' _Hiruzen thought with a depressed sigh. "It's shadow clones, isn't it?" he asked in a defeated tone.

Danzō chuckled lightly. "Yes, it is. I'm amazed it took you so long to figure it out, considering your title as the god of shinobi," he answered.

Hiruzen grunted unintelligibly before quickly forming a single hand sign, three solid clones quickly appearing in his office as he did so. With a content smile on his wrinkled face, Hiruzen lent back into his soft chair, lighting up his smoking pipe as he did.

"Isn't smoking in your office setting a bad example for anyone who might walk in, such as two young boys that we just so happen to be expecting?" Danzō asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't worry, Naruto is oblivious to anything that doesn't involve becoming a ninja or Hokage, and I'm sure Izo is mature enough to overlook it" Hiruzen said casually.

"Are you sure about that? During his time in the ROOT medical facility I saw that boy make it snow in his room; it took us an entire day to dig him out" the crippled elder said with a small laugh.

"Hmm, that is odd, but I'm sure he had his reasons" the Hokage said.

"He said it was because he wanted to kill the dull mood," Danzō said emotionlessly.

"Well…on the bright side, at least we know him and Naruto will get along, eventually" Sarutobi said quietly.

The door, which had been replaced due to damages, was thrown open harshly, a mop of spiky blonde hair quickly rushing into the room shortly after. Hiruzen shook his head and sighed as Naruto unceremoniously dropped Izo, who he had been dragging, onto the floor. The orange clad boy crossed his arms and grinned triumphantly before being viciously kicked across the room and into the wall.

Even the normally emotionless Danzō watched on with a wide eye as Izo staggered to his feet, glaring at the blonde haired boy he had just kicked.

"Old man, I am going to kill him," Izo growled through gritted teeth.

"You bastard, that hurt!" Naruto yelled as he stomped back to Izo.

"Maybe you should have stopped dragging me when I yell at you to stop dragging me!" Izo exclaimed.

"You weren't walking fast enough," the young jinchuuriki muttered.

"How am I supposed to walk when I'm being dragged?" the ash haired boy yelled in frustration.

"Ahem!" Danzō cleared his throat loudly, maintaining a stern look at the boys.

Izo and Naruto quickly turned away from each other with a huff, crossing their arms and pouting childishly. Hiruzen observed the reaction with great interest before turning a curious gaze to his old rival.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"You know Hiruzen, the fact that you keep asking me how to do things is making me question your reliability as Hokage," Danzō said with mock concern.

"Hey old guys, aren't we missing someone?" Izo asked, still maintaining a slight pout.

"I don't think so, you and Naruto are here, so am I and Danzō" Hiruzen replied, gesturing to those in the room as he named them.

"Yes, yes, and so are the four ANBU. What about that one somewhat important person who we are actually here to meet?" Izo asked pointedly.

"Oh _that _person" the Hokage said in realisation. "Hmm, I was expecting her to be here by now but I'm sure she has her reasons. It shouldn't be much longer before she arrives" he assured.

Almost on cue, a gentle knock was heard from the door, which had somehow closed itself after being thrown open by Naruto. It opened, and from behind it, a woman dressed in standard ANBU attire, complete with white porcelain mask, walked in hurriedly. Unlike standard ANBU however, her mask didn't represent an animal, instead only being decorated by two purple marking going diagonally down her cheeks. She quickly walked past Naruto and Izo, before bowing to the Hokage and Danzō.

"Lord Hokage, lord Danzō, forgive me for being late," she said quietly, trying to hide her already masked face behind her long black hair.

"It's fine, but might I ask what kept you?" Danzō inquired curiously.

"Of course lord Danzō, I seem to have…misplaced my sword," she answered meekly.

"You mean this sword?" Izo asked cheekily, holding out a long katana with a dull red sheath that he had pulled out from…somewhere.

The ANBU woman spun on her heels and pointed accusing at Izo, who in turn pointed back at her.

"YOU!" they both yelled angrily.

"Give me back my sword you little brat!" the woman yelled, lunging at the weapon.

Izo ducked under her, watching as she masterfully twisted herself in the air to land back on her feet. "No way in hell, not until you apologise for throwing me seven Kami damn feet through the air!" he exclaimed.

"I take it you two have met before?" Hiruzen asked with a light chuckle.

"Sure we have, we're good pals actually. She showed up at the apartment this morning asking for Naruto, and when I asked why, she tried to simply walk away; apparently blocking her off with ice was a mistake on my part cause she knocked me off my feet and disappeared" Izo explained.

"You stole my sword, be grateful you're still alive!" the woman screamed.

"Kana" Danzō said calmly, making the woman instantly stop glaring at Izo and bow her head.

"Sorry lord Danzō" she apologised.

"Kana?" the Hokage asked curiously.

Danzō gave his friend a pointed look that instantly answered his question. He would have preferred it if "Kana" had of arrived before the boys did so he could explain some things to Hiruzen and make a general plan of how to go about the introductions, but that had been simple wishful thinking at the time and he would just have to make do as it was.

"Oh right, Kana. Sorry for that, I'm starting to get forgetful in my old age you see" Hiruzen said jokingly, trying to play off his previous question.

Naruto bought it, like the dense moron he always acted as, but Izo was far more observant. He could easily tell that 'Kana' was not her real name, not that he was expecting to learn her actual name anytime soon; he understood ones need for secrecy, especially as a member of ANBU, but it wouldn't stop him from being cautious of this woman.

"Izo" the Hokage began in a slightly serious manner. "Would you please give Kana back her sword?" he asked kindly.

"I don't know, do I get an apology?" Izo asked, still maintaining a death grip on the katana.

Hiruzen looked at Kana questioningly, smirking when the woman crossed her arms and turned to the blindfolded boy with an annoyed huff.

"I'm sorry for knocking you to the ground," Kana muttered irritably. "Now do I get an apology for you blocking me in the doorway with ice?" she asked harshly.

"Do you want the sword back?" Izo asked quickly, receiving a nod from the woman. "Then no" he answered simply.

Kana growled at Izo, completely ignoring the fact that he had acknowledged her nod despite not being able to see it. "You aren't making a good first impression, boy," she said through gritted teeth.

"Neither are you. Seriously, how rude must you be to still wear that mask in front of the children you are practically going to be the mother of. I'm offended." Izo countered in mock hurt, going so far as to dramatically clutch at his chest.

"Actually, you do make a point. But I'm afraid that due to specific…circumstances, Kana's identity must still remain a secret, even to you boys; for now anyway" the Hokage said sadly.

"Aww" Naruto whined pitifully.

Kana's agitated posture quickly changed to a gentler one as she walked over and ruffled the blonde's spiky hair. "Don't worry Naruto, you don't need to know who I am for us to get along," she said cheerfully.

"I suppose" Naruto said with a small smile as he leaned into her hand.

Kana had to stop herself from crushing the boy in a hug. It was bad enough that the small blonde had, in her own opinion, completely adorable whisker marks on his cheeks, but the fact that he reminded her so much of an old friend of hers made not squealing "cute" quite difficult. Luckily, she would not humiliate herself like that in front of the Hokage or Danzō, nor would she let down her guard while around the 'blind' thief.

"Anyway, as you have already guessed, this is Kana, your official legal guardian. She will look after you, teach you, and be there for you when either I or Danzō are not available," the old Sarutobi explained.

"Does that mean she's gunna come live with us?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No. Your apartment is not suited to house three people, even if two are only children; therefor, you will be moving into a much larger apartment that is located closer to the Hokage tower. Should you need anything, you can simply come and ask me. You will have a week to get accustomed with your new living space before starting your training," Hiruzen explained.

"You will spend the first year learning under Danzō, while Kana here fills in any and all blanks. Then you will spend the next year learning from me, while Kana once again fills in any blanks. After that, you will each pick which one of us you prefer to train under for the following three years; any training you choose to do in your free time is completely up to you, as is any training you wish to continue after the five years you are committing to. Do you agree with these terms?" the aged Hokage asked seriously.

"Yes!" exclaimed Naruto, who was now grinning like an idiot.

"I don't have anything better to do" Izo said with a shrug.

"I'll just take that as an enthusiastic yes," Hiruzen mumbled. "Anyway, you boys should go and pack all of your things, well Naruto's things, and wait for Kana here to take you to your new home" he said.

Naruto yelled out excitedly and ran out of the office, making Danzō, Hiruzen, and Izo all shake their heads at his antics; Kana giggled quietly but otherwise didn't react. Izo quickly began walking after his brother, choosing to keep any questions to himself for now.

"Oh Izo" Kana said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Can I have my sword back now please?" she asked just as sweetly.

Izo grumbled but tossed the bladed weapon to her without complaint before walking out. Kana made sure to do a quick inspection of her sword before strapping it to her back and turning to address the Hokage.

"Kana, why were you at Uzumaki's apartment earlier?" Danzō asked curiously.

"I was hoping to meet the boy before I was introduced to him as his guardian. I wasn't sure how he would react to a complete stranger being given authority over him, and I was impressed by his acceptance of it," Kana answered.

"A risky move since Naruto has learnt not to trust my ANBU anymore, even in spite of that emotional mask he always wears. I suggest you don't hold it against him should he choose to not open up to you, but I wouldn't put anything past him at the moment; growing up without any family in a village that hates you could breed any number of personality issues. For all we know, he might be quick to accept you as a mother figure in the same way he was quick to accept Izo as a brother" Sarutobi said.

"Speaking of which. Although he did spend a few weeks under observation in the ROOT medical facility, and even though I would like to trust him, we will need you to keep an eye on Izo. Having spent his entire life as a test experiment I can't imagine how he would react should anyone become aggressive; so far he seems fine, but we simply cannot risk him going on a rampage, not with his abilities," Danzō said seriously.

"Is there anything I should know about him, perhaps something about his abilities; I have already witnessed his manipulation of ice, which although weak was quite impressive" Kana said.

Hiruzen pulled a file out from under his desk and passed to her. After a few moments of giving its contents a brief read over, Kana gave the elderly men what they assumed was a disbelieving stare; it was nearly impossible to know exactly what kind of expression she was wearing while she still had her mask on.

"Is this…serious?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, or at least that's all the information we could gather from the facility we found him in. The validity of that file has yet to be proven, but until we can safely test his abilities, we will simply have to take precautions," Danzō explained.

"I understand your uncertainty, but I still find some of these things very hard to believe. Could Orochimaru really create such a…monster?" Kana asked.

"I would advise you to not call him that, ever" the Hokage said with a light glare. "His presumed abilities might very well be unnatural, but Izo is still just a boy. A slightly violent and perverted boy at that, but still a boy. Should his origins become known to the civilians, he could suffer the same, if not worse treatment from them than Naruto does, and will need people to trust" he explained, a sour look forming on his face as he mentioned the civilians.

"That's why we adopted him into the Uzumaki family. Naruto, although slightly dense and annoying, is not one to refuse a potential friend, and we desperately need for them to build ties to this village. As it stands, we should have no problem keeping them loyal; but should something happen before we can instil changes to this village, then we could lose both of them" the old war hawk stated.

"And I assume that I am also a part of this plan, acting as a mother and all?" the ANBU woman asked calmly.

"We can understand you apprehension for such a request, but with your prior experience and current circumstances, we couldn't find anyone more suited to the job," Hiruzen answered.

"No, it's fine. I have had enough time to recover from that incident; I should not let it interfere with fulfilling my duties to this village. But I must ask, is this mission temporary, or should I prepare to be adopted into Naruto's family as well?" she asked with a hint of amusement.

The aged Hokage gave a glance to his old rival before turning to Kana with a serious expression. "If you find yourself getting truly attached to the boys then I will have no problem making it official, but considering your lineage it might cause some uprise with the council," he said.

"I understand. I will go and take the boys to the apartment, see you in a week" Kana said happily, waving lazily as she walked to the door.

"One more thing" the Hokage said, making her stop and turn back around. "I am leaving your identity up to you. Should you choose to make yourself known, whether to the public or individuals, I will not stop you," he said with a smile.

"Thank you, lord Hokage" Kana said quietly before walking out of the office and towards Naruto's apartment.

_'Kushina, Minato, it seems I will be able to keep my promise after all" _she thought to herself. _'I just hope it will make a difference' _


	5. Genin?

Authors Notes:

Hey guys, here's the next chapter, i hope you all enjoy.

If anyone has any suggestions on the pairings for either Naruto or my OC please feel free to share them. As it stands, Tenten or Karui are my main possible choices for my OC, maybe even Kurotsuchi, while Naruto is completely open for debate. Please review or PM your suggestions on this matter if you want.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and considering how it ended up, i am thankful for that...sort of.

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><p>Hiruzen waited patiently for the inevitable outburst from Naruto, possibly even Izo as well if he was unlucky enough. After all, the boys did just get told one of the few things that no one in their position ever wanted to hear; the old Hokage was impressed that they had stayed calm for this long, and that was saying something coming from him.<p>

The past six years had been, more or less, highly productive. Both boys had progressed much faster than either he or Danzō had suspected they would, and they were now easily two of the most skilled shinobi in the village despite their young age. Hiruzen was not foolish enough to judge ones strength on age alone, especially after what Itachi Uchiha accomplished at the mere age of 13, so he knew that what he was about to do was not without risks.

The old Sarutobi's eyes calmly observed the now 13 year old Naruto, who was staring at him emotionlessly from behind a fox styled ANBU mask. The Hokage had found it rather amusing when the boy had first requested his mask to be styled after the Kyuubi, but he didn't dare to refuse, not after the blindfolded glare Izo had given him.

Naruto was now quite taller, more so than he would have been if not for Izo 'kindly' suggesting that he eat something other than ramen. Hiruzen wasn't sure how the ash haired boy had convinced him that tying Naruto to a tree and only feeding him healthy food for a week was a 'kind suggestion'. Despite the methods used, Hiruzen couldn't deny the obvious results that had come from it, as Naruto now stood at an even five feet tall.

The Blue eyed blonde had kept his hair unruly and spiky, though the Hokage knew the boy didn't have much say in the matter. He was now clad in a pair of plain black pants, a kunai holster strapped to his right thigh, and a simple pair of black shinobi sandals. His torso was covered by a dark orange shirt that he wore underneath a long crimson coat, the sleeves of which were decorated with a golden nine tailed fox on his right arm and a black nine tailed fox on his left, both converging into a spiral pattern printed on his back.

The boy's attire was complete with a standard katana strapped to his back and the leaf symbol displayed proudly on a metal plate attached to a belt around his waist. Hiruzen had tried to explain that while he wore a leaf ANBU mask he didn't require the engraved plate for identification, but the blonde had brushed it off and continued to wear it anyway. The aged Hokage's eyes narrowed slightly as Naruto finally came out of his daze and glared at him.

"What the hell do you mean we have to join a genin team? Just what kind of crap are you trying to pull here old man?" the jinchuuriki all but screamed indignantly.

Hiruzen sighed. He could already tell this would be difficult. "It's exactly what it sounds like Naruto. You and Izo, although highly skilled, are not officially registered as shinobi of Konoha. Up until now you have been working within ROOT, which in case you had forgotten is a non-existent ANBU branch; so as far as anyone else is concerned, neither of you even rank as genin" he explained calmly.

"That's a load of crap and you know it. Me and Izo could easily take on any jonin in this village; we ended a war for Kami's sake!" Naruto exclaimed. "Come on Izo, back me up here"

"Please don't drag me into this argument Naruto. Not that I don't agree with you, but you almost died ending that war, I practically did die; any and all arguments based on that mission are null and void as far as I'm concerned" Izo replied calmly.

Hiruzen smirked triumphantly. With Izo not completely losing his cool, this entire meeting would go along much smoother; Naruto was much easier to deal with when he didn't have people backing him up, in a verbal confrontation anyway. The Hokage was beyond thankful for the ash haired boy's development, in regards to both his skill and emotionally as well.

The 16 year old, who stood at 5 feet 6 inches tall, was easily one of the most versatile shinobi Hiruzen had the pleasure of knowing. His unique abilities and incredibly potent chakra allowed him to excel in almost every field of shinobi skills, and thankfully, he had developed the calm and level headed attitude to utilise them to the best of his ability. Despite Izo's versatility, Hiruzen was aware that when push came to shove, he was still the weaker of the two brothers.

Izo was clad in a pair of baggy dark grey pants with a pair of shinobi sandals of the same colour. His torso was covered by a dark purple shirt with two black stripes going across it horizontally, which he wore underneath a long bone white coat with a single long sleeve covering his left arm. The left sleeve was decorated with intricate black intertwining spiked chains that simply stopped at his shoulder. He had a long black scarf wrapped around his neck and lower face and dark green bandages wrapped around his eyes; unlike Naruto, Izo had decided to remove his mask during the meeting.

The older boy wore a pair of black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back; a metal plate with the leaf symbol engraved on it was secured to a long crimson sash tied around his waist. In his right hand, he held his ANBU mask, which sported only one eye slit on the left side as opposed to the standard two holes; other than that, the mask was decorated with three black rings that went down the right side of it. Izo's attire was completed with a long straight bladed sword that was held in his left hand.

Hiruzen still wasn't entirely sure whether or not the boy could actually see or not, and he wasn't sure if anyone other than Naruto knew either. As it was, everyone had taken to assuming one or the other while Izo himself continuously made comments about his eyesight that never clearly answered the question. Sarutobi didn't care all too much if Izo was blind because it obviously didn't hinder the boy in any way, and he knew that no one else really cared either; the only problem came with simply wanting to know.

"Oh come on bro. Yeah we got injured, but we still ended a war, that has to count for something doesn't it?" Naruto whined childishly.

"Naruto, please just stop complaining. I do not like the idea of being reduced to genin any more than you do, but I also know that the old geezer here has a good reason for doing so; isn't that right?" Izo asked casually, turning to face the Hokage.

"Yes actually, I do. Thankyou for being the voice of reason for once" Hiruzen said happily. "Anyway, the reason for you two being put in a genin team is quite simple, you both need to learn how to work with other people besides Kana" he explained.

"We already had to work with other people," Naruto countered.

"Yes, you did. But as I remember it, you two managed to get every single person we sent off with you killed" Sarutobi replied emotionlessly.

"Heh, it's not our fault that they couldn't compete with us. And for the record, we didn't get all of them killed, I am fairly certain that at least one survived" the blonde said smugly.

"Being brought back to the village after suffering a complete mental breakdown is not something that can be used in your own defence; that man will never recover" the Hokage stated grimly.

"Are you sure you don't have a more, oh I don't know, substantial reason for making us join a genin team. I understand the whole teamwork thing, but there must be another reason for placing two ANBU level shinobi with a mere genin," Izo said.

"Actually, it will be slightly more complicated than that. Due to an odd number of academy graduates, there is now a team with only two members, not including the jonin sensei of course. To fix this problem I am placing the both of you on that team as well, making the first four member genin team. Think of this as a trial run for future teams" the old man explained.

"You're leaving something out aren't you? One of these genin is important, otherwise you would have simply placed them in with one of the other genin teams; I can only think of one genin that could possibly call for such extremes," the blindfolded boy said emotionlessly, already groaning mentally at what he had surmised.

"What are you talking about, who is it, is this some kind of long term protection mission or something, why are they so importa…" Naruto suddenly froze mid question as his eyes widened in horror. He turned to glare at the Hokage who was trying to suppress an amused smirk. "You wouldn't dare place us with _him," _he said dangerously, spitting the final word in disgust.

"I am afraid I will have to my boy. The council has done everything in their power to make sure that the Uchiha is looked after, even going so far as to place him on Kakashi Hatake's team exclusively" Hiruzen said dejectedly.

"The council, especially the elders, will throw a fit once they find out that you placed us in his team. I don't really see the need for us to be there, do you not have faith in Kakashi's skill?" Izo asked curiously.

"I don't want to protect that pompous bastard. Everyone worships the ground he walks on just because he's the last Uchiha, but they are still so blind that they don't even realise that I'm the last Namikaze," Naruto said angrily.

Hiruzen sighed quietly. As he had promised, he had told Naruto everything about his lineage as soon as he felt the boy was ready. In reality, Minato had stated that Naruto be told once he reached chunin rank, and since the boy had reached that level of skill so quickly Hiruzen couldn't find any problem with telling the boy early. The revelation had come as quite a shock for the exuberant blonde, even more so after he received his inheritance.

It had been rather amusing to watch the boy run around the Namikaze/Uzumaki estate like a toddler on speed. Naruto had almost immediately demanded to move into the compound, taking with him both Izo and Kana, much to the latter's surprise. Izo had taken the news casually before disappearing into the clan's library much to Naruto's annoyance. That had all been almost five years ago, and the Hokage could tell that each year that Naruto's true identity went unknown the blonde boy became more irritated with the village.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I need you to do this for me. This will be more a reconnaissance mission anyway, all I need you to do is keep an eye on the boy and report back anything suspicious. Normally I would have asked Kakashi to do this instead, but I fear that he has been compromised by his own emotions and would give a biased opinion," the Hokage explained sadly. He really did hate the current situation with Kakashi, but there wasn't all too much he could do at the moment, not with it being so early on in the plan.

"So you want us to keep an eye on the Uchiha and Hatake, make sure they are playing their parts correctly?" Izo asked calmly, receiving a nod from the Hokage. "Ok, that makes sense, but who is this fourth member of the team?"

"That would be the top ranking kunoichi of the academy year, Sakura Haruno," Hiruzen answered.

"Is she worthy of the title?" Izo questioned seriously.

Hiruzen frowned but answered honestly. "No, I don't believe she is. In fact, I don't think anyone in the group of graduates are ready to be shinobi; unfortunately, my opinion on the matter doesn't mean all too much right now. While they are in the academy, the children are legally under the jurisdiction of the civilian council, and they have used that to manipulate the curriculum within the academy. As it stand, the system is too lenient and we are losing many potential shinobi because of it," he explained.

"Very well. We will go along with this for now, but I do not want to hear any complaints should the girl die, or should the Uchiha be injured due to his own arrogance. You should also warn Kakashi not to stick his nose too far into our business, lest it be cut off" Izo stated gravely.

"What? Izo, you can't be serious; we can't agree to this!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Don't you still wish to be Hokage?" the older boy asked casually.

"Uh, yes, why?" the blonde replied dumbly.

"Then this is the best way to go about it; not only will you be required to rise through the ranks officially before you can become Hokage, but it will allow you to gain the support of your fellow shinobi, which is a necessity if you want to lead this village" Izo explained.

"Jeez, way to crush my spirit bro. But you are right, as usual" Naruto muttered quietly.

"Well then, since that's all settled now, how about you both head over to the academy. I believe that the team assignments will be happening in roughly an hour or so; you will need to be present for that, and you will have to put your masks away for now," Hiruzen said cheerfully.

"Fine. Let's go" Naruto said impatiently before grabbing Izo's arm.

Hiruzen watched as both boys suddenly vanished in a small flash of red. Taking a deep breath, he leant back into his chair and lit his pipe, sparing a quick glance to the three shadow clones that were doing his paperwork for him. Yep, life was definitely going good; now if only Jiraiya could hurry up and release the new addition in the Icha-Icha series.

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><p>Naruto sat lazily on the branch of a tree overlooking the shinobi academy, Izo hanging upside down from a higher branch not far from him. Both boys were somewhat amused at the carefree attitude all the other kids had as they ran around the field surrounding the academy; it was almost as if they had no idea of what being a ninja really meant.<p>

Izo and Naruto couldn't really say anything since neither of them maintained a completely serious attitude despite what they had gone through, but at least they knew what was expected of them and had the capacity to act accordingly. These kids were just that, kids. They clearly hadn't been trained properly to prepare them for the horrors that came with the job and even Naruto could guess that a few of them would die early on.

With a depressed sigh, Naruto positioned himself so that he was leaning against the trunk of the tree he was sitting in. There was still a good half an hour left until team assignments so he figured he could use this time to relax.

"So what have you picked up so far Izo?" he asked casually.

"Hmm, nothing out of the ordinary so far. Some of the kids have good sized chakra reserves, but that is practically where all hope is lost" Izo replied.

Over the years, Izo had trained his natural sensor abilities to the limit. It had been a highly useful skill during the missions they had gone on in the year after their training, and had even saved their lives a couple of times. Naruto also possessed a similar ability to sense negative emotions, but he knew that was something he had gained thanks to the Kyuubi and it didn't nearly match Izo's.

"Can you identify what clans are down there?" the blonde questioned lazily.

"Well the Uchiha is by far the easiest to sense; the guy literally radiates emo vibes. Other than him, we have a Yamanaka, a Nara, an Akimichi, an Inuzuka, an Aburame, and a Hyuuga. That Haruno girl barely even registers as a chakra signature" Izo listed off casually.

"Why couldn't we get teamed up with anyone else but him, his forever burning hatred is going to make my negative emotion sensing completely useless as long as I'm around him" Naruto whined pitifully.

"It doesn't really matter. I can't see the council allowing us on any dangerous missions, they wouldn't dare put their Uchiha in harm's way" the ash haired boy replied.

"Oh really, I bet you they will send us off on a really dangerous mission and give Kakashi an order to retreat with the Uchiha while leaving us to die, Haruno will simply be a necessary loss in their eyes" the younger boy countered.

Izo sighed impatiently, "Is that really such a bad thing? I mean look at it this way, if that does happen then we are free to go all out, and once we return we can explain things to the Hokage; do you really think the old man will let something like that slide without unleashing the biggest shit storm Konoha has ever known?" he asked.

Naruto grinned widely, revealing his highly pronounced canines. "Yeah, I guess that's true. There aren't very many people that can take the both of us down anyway," he said cockily.

"Don't get ahead of yourself there bro, they might try to separate us, and once that happens we are substantially weaker. The main thing we should focus on is sticking together, as long as we can do that we should be fine," Izo said seriously.

"Fine, fine, I understand. Anyway, let's go inside, the classes are beginning to go back" Naruto said quickly, allowing himself to fall from the tree.

Izo shook his head at his brother's lack of enthusiasm, not that he could blame the blonde, and also allowed himself to fall from the branch he hung from.

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><p>Izo calmly observed each student as they entered the classroom, every single one of them completely oblivious to his presence. It was upsetting to know that not even a single one of them could notice him, but not nearly as upsetting as it was when none of them noticed Naruto. Izo himself had spent a large amount of time in mastering his ability to suppress his chakra until he was impossible to detect, but Naruto wasn't able to do that.<p>

Being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi meant that it was literally impossible to completely supress his own chakra, making Naruto an obvious target for a sensor such as Izo. The major problem came in the form of Naruto's chakra itself, being that of both an Uzumaki and a jinchuuriki; the concept of someone not sensing the blonde's absolutely massive chakra reserves was laughable, and yet no one had yet to indicate that they had noticed him.

Izo quickly took notice of a particularly lazy looking boy with his hair done up in a short spiky ponytail that kind of resembled a pineapple. The sleepy boy, obviously a Nara, made almost unnoticeable glances towards the section of the ceiling that Naruto was hiding on. Said blonde was using a technique that the Hokage had taught him that allowed him to become completely transparent, apparently, it was created by Naruto's godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin. It was a useful technique, but didn't completely conceal ones presence.

The Nara boy had yet to notice Izo's presence, which said boy found particularly amusing since he was hiding in the wall right next to him. Izo was using a technique that allowed him to assimilate himself into solid objects, completely concealing his existence from all but the most skilled of sensors. The downsides of this technique were very simple; once you use it, you couldn't move until you deactivate it, leaving yourself wide open for attack.

The classrooms door slid open and a young man with a hairstyle much similar to the Nara's walked in. He smiled warmly and waved to the class as he made his way to the desk at the front of the room, from which he picked up a clipboard.

"Ok class, time for rollcall" he said cheerfully.

Izo took a moment to pray that Naruto didn't do anything stupid as the man called out name after name. He knew that the young blonde was impatient, but when it came to being within a classroom environment, or an actual classroom, the boys chances of having a breakdown were increased exponentially. If Naruto did have any form of breakdown in here then no one would leave the building un-pranked.

As the teacher marked off the names of the students, Izo took note of the clan heirs. He made sure to match names to faces and give them a quick rundown assessment so as to better gauge their skill and potential usefulness. The first being Shino Aburame, a quiet boy with a high collar jacket and sunglasses. The boy appeared to have also noticed Naruto's presence through the use of his bug companions.

The next one was Chōji Akimichi, a rather large boy with orangey coloured hair and swirl markings on his cheeks. The boy seemed to fairly laid-back and had what seemed to be an endless bag of chips held in his hand. From what Izo knew about the Akimichi clan techniques, he was able to safely assume that Chōji would become at least an average ninja.

Hinata Hyuuga was a strange one. She was fidgety and clearly nervous, giving Izo the impression that she had no confidence whatsoever. Other than that, she did possess sizable chakra reserves for her age, and with the Hyuuga's gentle fist taijutsu it was safe to say that she had perfect control over it. If she overcame her timid nature, the girl would excel in the shinobi arts.

Kiba Inuzuka was a brown haired boy who seemed to have a confident smirk permanently grafted to his face along with the fang styled markings on his cheeks. The boy had a small white puppy sitting atop his head, which appeared to be looking around frantically in search for something. It was probably looking for whatever smelled like foxes.

Izo found that the lazy pineapple haired boys name was Shikamaru Nara. The boy seemed to be too lazy for his own good and despite noticing Naruto's presence in the room, didn't act on it, as any self-respecting shinobi would have. Izo determined that unless the boy got really motivated really fast, he would end up either dying or getting someone else killed.

Ino Yamanaka was a girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She seemed to be in some form of silent glaring match against Sakura that had something to do with who got to sit next to Sasuke. She was the definition of fan girl and would most likely die early on. On the bright side, Izo would have fun making comments about the similarities between her and Naruto.

Izo already knew everything he needed to know about Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. The first was a stuck up prick who got treated like royalty, and the pink haired girl was a useless fan girl like the Yamanaka only without any clan techniques to fall back on. These were his and Naruto's teammates, and he could already feel the need to kill them start building up inside him.

"Alright class, before I announce who the genin teams are, I would like to introduce two new additions to the class, one of whom is already here," the man said as he looked up at the ceiling.

Naruto quickly dropped the transparency jutsu and allowed himself to fall to the floor, twisting himself so that he landed perfectly on his feet right in front of the teacher. He smiled and waved cheerfully while Izo mentally groaned at his brothers need to show off.

"Hello, I'm Iruka Umino, I suppose you are Naruto Uzumaki" Iruka said calmly, although Naruto could tell the man wasn't very confident in being around him.

"Yeah that's me. Nice to meet you!" exclaimed happily, grinning widely and showing off his teeth, an action that unnerved Iruka even more.

"Yes, nice to meet you too. Might I ask where your brother is, he is supposed to be here as well," Iruka said hesitantly.

"Oh he's over there," Naruto said casually while pointing to the wall right next to Shikamaru.

Everyone in the class turned to look as Izo simply began to emerge from the wall itself, making most of the students go wide eyed, but none more so than Shikamaru. _'How the hell could he be right next to me this entire time without me even noticing?' _the young Nara thought to himself. Iruka was having similar thoughts as he watched the boy calmly walk from the wall and down to the front of the class.

"Yo, I'm Izo" Izo greeted simply, offering a half-hearted wave.

Iruka just stared at the boy incredulously, wondering how exactly the boy managed to go completely unnoticed by him. Naruto was easy to detect since the boy's chakra was so potent, but this Izo kid didn't emanate any chakra presence. Even as the boy stood right in front of him, Iruka couldn't detect his existence at all.

"Hi" Iruka responded dumbly. "Uh, could you remove the bandages around your eyes and the scarf too?" he requested apprehensively.

"Why?" Izo asked curiously.

"Well, so you can see" the man answered.

"It won't make a difference anyway so I'll leave them on, and I'd much rather keep my eyes hidden" the ash haired boy said dismissively.

"Hah, so you're blind? What kind of joke is that, a blind guy can't become a ninja!" Kiba yelled with a boastful laugh.

Before Iruka could say anything, Izo had already appeared behind the slightly feral looking boy with a thin blade of ice pressed against his neck. Iruka choked on the words he was going to say as he stared at the construct of ice that had suddenly appeared in Izo's hand, a single word instantly appearing in his mind.

"Hyōton?" he whispered to himself in disbelief.

"You really shouldn't judge someone based on something as simple as sight, lest others start judging you on how badly you smell" Izo said casually before letting the ice blade collapse into water. "Learn to pick your fights like a good dog"

Kiba growled as he spun around to glare at Izo only to find himself staring at the kid seated behind him. "And you'd best get a grip on that temper of yours too" Izo said from his original spot in front of the class.

"Hn, and you call me a show off" Naruto muttered, earning himself a smack up the back of his head which in turn made a few of the girls in the class giggle lightly. "I hate you sometimes"

"Don't try to lie to me bro, you hate me all the time" Izo corrected.

"Ok then, since you're both here, I guess I'll just tell everyone what teams they're on" Iruka said quickly, trying to forget the last several minutes completely.

Naruto and Izo remained silent as Iruka listed off the teams. Naruto was having a hard time ignoring all of the curious and admiring stares he was getting from the girls in the class; he knew that Izo probably would have been dealing with the same thing if his face wasn't covered by his scarf and bandages. He almost blushed in embarrassment when one of the girls in the front row whispered "Cute whiskers" to him.

"Alright, team seven will consist of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno…" Iruka was cut off by a loud shriek of victory courtesy of Sakura which in turn was quickly cut off by a snowball to the face, courtesy of Izo. "Anyway, team seven will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto and Izo Uzumaki. Your jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake," Iruka stated calmly.

"Team eight will consist of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, and Kiba Inuzuka. Your jonin sensei will be Kurenai Yūhi. Team nine is still in rotation from last year so we'll move on to team ten. Team ten will consist of Ino Yamanaka, Chōji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. Your jonin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. You will all wait here until you are collected by your sensei's; I trust you will all become excellent shinobi of Konoha" Iruka finished happily before exiting the classroom.

Naruto let out a deep breath as soon as the door slid shut. "Kami that was difficult to sit through" he whined tiredly.

"You're standing up you idiot" Izo said bluntly.

"Oh…right. Well, Kami was that difficult to stand through" Naruto corrected himself.

"Better" the older brother said simply.

"Hey wait a second!" Kiba yelled indignantly. "Why the hell do you guys get to be on a four man team, with Sasuke no less? Wouldn't that make your team unfairly powerful?" he asked with a glare.

"I don't see the difference between my team and yours. You have three members and a dog, we have three members and a dog, only ours is in the form of an emo," Naruto said innocently, earning multiple chuckles from many in the class and an outright laugh from Kiba himself.

"Ok, ok, you win. Just make sure to keep your team's dog on a short leash," the feral boy said with a smirk.

"Can you lend us one?" Izo asked even more innocently than Naruto was before, eliciting an even louder combination of chuckles and giggles.

Naruto and Izo both smirked when they felt the glares aimed at them from a particular broody bastard and his two crazed fan girls. Perhaps this mission wasn't going to be a complete pain in the ass after all.

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><p><strong>Please leave a review, suggestion, or criticism, all are very much appreciated.<strong>


	6. The Bell is a Lie

**A/N:**

Hey everyone, here's the new chapter, i hope you all enjoy. Also, i am sorry if the very short fight in this chapter and the fight scenes i have planned for the next one are not very good. I am not a very experienced writer, this is easy to see since i literally don't plan anything when it comes to what i write; it's all touch and go. That being said, i can't write fight scenes for shit, hell i cant even read them properly. So if these parts are complete shit, please, i beg for advice. Any tips will help and i will be grateful for your contribution. This is more in regards to the upcoming chapter since the fight in this chapter is so pathetically brief that it could count as a sneeze.

I had to rewrite this chapter three times, which is a record for me since i hate repeating the same idea in multiple ways. My reason for this was because i couldn't figure out who was going to be the central character, Naruto, or Izo. This once again has nothing to do with this chapter, but i feel i should warn everyone that this will more than likely center around my OC, and yes i am aware that its a risky if not terrible idea. Either way, i hope to have fun writing this story and i hope you guys can all enjoy it, if not, well that just sucks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and i never want to. I would much rather own Disney.

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><p>Izo regretted ever thinking that this mission wasn't going to be as bad as he thought it would, because he could already tell it would be worse. Not only had their sensei been two hours late, leaving him and Naruto with the Uchiha and his pink haired tumour, but the man had immediately brought them to the roof of the building…to give introductions.<p>

"So, who wants to go first?" Kakashi asked with his one visible eye curving into an odd upside down smile.

"Uh, perhaps you could go first sensei, you know, to show us how to do it" Sakura suggested hesitantly.

Naruto chose that moment to throw himself backwards from his sitting position with a groan, letting his head hit the cement floor. He couldn't believe that the acclaimed kunoichi of the year had just asked for a demonstration on how to give an introduction; even he wasn't _that _stupid. Izo felt like doing the same, but he refused to lower himself to Naruto's level.

"Ok then. My name is Kakashi Hatake, I like my books and some other things you are too young to know about. My dislikes…well I've never really thought about it that much, my hobbies are my own, and my dreams are none of your concern right now," Kakashi said happily.

Sasuke and Sakura gave the jonin incredulous looks, wondering if the man was being serious. _'All we really learnt was his name' _Sakura thought with a frown. Izo and Naruto were different in the fact that they actually sighed in minor relief; thankfully, their sensei wasn't a complete moron. Any self-respecting shinobi knew not to simply go and give out personal information on themselves, it was one of the first lessons Danzō had beaten into their heads.

"Ok, now it's your turn pinky" the silver haired Cyclops said lazily, pointing to Sakura as he returned to reading the small orange book in his hand.

"My name is Sakura Haruno, I like…" she glanced at the brooding Sasuke and let out a girly squeal, making Izo follow the same course of action as Naruto had done. "I hate Ino pig and anyone who tries to get in the way of my dream, which is…" she stopped again and looked dreamily at Sasuke before letting out another girly squeal. "And my hobbies are reading and playing trivia games" she finished happily.

Kakashi stared at the girl lazily, feeling as though he had just aged a good twenty more years in the last two minutes alone. He couldn't believe that his was the kunoichi of the year; it simply didn't make sense. He was a shinobi, trained to kill on command and train others to do the same; he was not trained to deal with love struck teenage girls who thought that hair products were an important part of everyday life.

_'The academy is really letting its standards fall. At this rate, we won't have any decent kunoichi in the village at all, and then I won't have any potential teammates to ogle while on missions' _the silver haired man thought sadly. He hoped that the girl would quickly change her outlook on things, but his experience with the fairer sex suggested otherwise. Women, no matter their age, were stubborn to a fault.

"Well, that was…interesting. Let's move on. Your turn doom and gloom" Kakashi said while pointing to Sasuke.

"Hn, my name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don't like many things, I hate…" the onyx eyed boy paused and thought over his answer for a moment. "…fan girls, I hate fan girls. My hobbies are training, and my dream…is to kill a certain man" he finished with a hateful yet determined expression.

Kakashi felt another ten years add to his age. Not only would he have to deal with a fan girl, but now he also had a broody avenger who just so happened to be an Uchiha. If it wasn't for the debt that he owed to his fallen teammate, he probably wouldn't bother to train the boy; unfortunately, the council had seen to it that he be the boys sensei, and as the only Sharingan user left in the village, Kakashi felt that it was his duty to train the Uchiha to use his own.

_'I'll just have to keep an eye on his mental state. There's no telling what he will act like once the Dōjutsu activates, so I'll just have to try and help him find a reason to give up his dream of killing Itachi. Perhaps he might open up to Naruto and Izo' _Kakashi thought to himself. He turned to look at the two remaining genin and was surprised to see them trying to crawl their way to the edge of the building, as if they had all the life drained from them somehow.

"Must…kill self…too much…emo" Naruto choked out.

"Must…find…cute girl…have to…forget…fan girl squealing" Izo drawled.

"Ahem!" Kakashi exclaimed loudly, gaining the boys attention. "It's your turn blondie," he said expectantly.

Naruto sighed in defeat as he got up and walked back over in front of Kakashi. He sat back down next to a still broody Sasuke before grinning like an idiot. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gunna be Hokage!" he exclaimed loudly, pumping his fist in the air triumphantly.

Kakashi waited patiently, his one eye never betraying any emotions he may have had. Sasuke and Sakura just stared at the still grinning blonde as if he had grown a second head, despite the fact that such an occurrence would be more prone to a horrified reaction.

"Is that it?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Yep!" Naruto answered cheerfully.

"Idiot! That isn't a proper introduction!" Sakura yelled angrily.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the pink haired girl and pointed accusingly at Kakashi. "You didn't say anything when he did it," he countered in a confused manner.

"That's because he's the sensei!" the girl screamed.

"Now, now, Sakura. I do hope you're not implying that I'm more important than any of you are. As a team, we are all equal and we are supposed to work together so as to better improve our individual skill. However, just because we are a team, doesn't mean we have to know everything about each other; sometimes secrets are important to people and we must respect that" Kakashi explained.

"Ok, I guess that makes sense" Sakura said, quickly returning to staring dreamily at Sasuke, much to said boy's discomfort.

Kakashi simply observed Naruto emotionlessly, while the blonde continued to smile stupidly. He wasn't one to be easily confused, but this boy sitting in front of him was taking his mind for a spin, whether intentionally or otherwise. He knew who Naruto was, literally how couldn't anyone else see the resemblance, but the boy didn't act the way he expected him to.

From his time as Naruto's guard whilst serving in ANBU, Kakashi had easily assumed that the brash and exuberant child wouldn't go too far as a shinobi without some extreme training; the kind that he was simply not fit to give. But looking at the boy now, he could safely assume that someone else had, and he suspected that the Hokage was behind it.

The jonin didn't really care too much about that, it wasn't his place to question the Hokage. If the Sandaime had seen fit to have Naruto trained, then who was he to go against it; Kakashi was fairly confident that it was the right decision anyway, what with the hardships that the boy already had to suffer with. It truly did upset him to see his sensei's son rejected so harshly by the village.

"Alright then, lucky last is scarf boy, so have at it," Kakashi said, gesturing to the fact that Izo's face was covered by bandages and a scarf.

"My name is Izo Uzumaki, not scarf boy," Izo growled. "As for my likes, I'd have to say that cute girls are at the top of that list, along with that little book you're holding. I don't particularly dislike anything, but I could be persuaded otherwise should the right offer be made. Hmm, my hobbies include…things" he finished.

_'Dear Kami, a potential mini Jiraiya' _Kakashi thought excitedly. _'So, I'm stuck with a fan girl, a broody avenger whom said fan girl is infatuated with, an apparently secretive and possibly over-energetic jinchuuriki with assumed prior training, and finally, a possibly blind but definitely perverted boy with a possible mercenary styled set of morals' _he recapped mentally.

Kakashi gave each member of his potential genin team another brief glance. He could definitely see potential in each of them, even though he had to look really, _really _hard to see any in Sakura. The major problem that could arise from them as a team was just that, the team. Kakashi couldn't really see this particular team set up working as anything other than a time bomb.

Sakura would be easy going so long as she was around Sasuke and Kakashi guessed that the girl could be easily manipulated should it be necessary. But that in itself proved an issue since Sasuke had clearly stated that he hated fan girls; in all honesty, the jonin couldn't blame him. So now, Kakashi had to figure out some way to train Sasuke, as he was required, while somehow getting Sakura to also train in such a way that wouldn't directly interfere with Sasuke whatsoever.

Naruto was up for debate in his own opinion. Kakashi assumed that the boy had received prior training, but he could be wrong, and he also couldn't accurately discern what level the boy may have been trained to. As the village's only jinchuuriki, it was safe to assume that if he had been trained it would have been to the maximum if possible, but that was just something he would have to check with the Hokage about. The level of skill the boy showed would end up effecting how much time and effort Kakashi would devote to teaching him.

Izo was an anomaly at the moment. For reasons not entirely clear to him, Kakashi couldn't sense the boy at all. There wasn't a chakra signature, there wasn't a scent, there wasn't really anything apart from what he could see and even that was limited; there seriously wasn't even a face to go with the name. Kakashi didn't question this though, no, he understood ones need for privacy as he too kept a good portion of his face concealed.

The real question came with whether or not the boy had been trained as he assumed Naruto had. He knew that Izo was adopted into the Uzumaki family six years ago, and that the blindfolded boy didn't technically exist before that point in time, so it was easily possible that he had also received prior training from an unknown source. But as it stood, the ash haired boy was in the same boat as Naruto when it came to how Kakashi would train him.

The silver haired jonin sighed mentally. Leave to the Sandaime to give him the most potentially chaotic team physically possible. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to make this team work efficiently, but he didn't really have a choice when it came to passing them. For the moment, the best he could do was test them and hope that they could work together.

"Alright. Now that we have the introduction over and done with, I get to determine whether or not you will actually become genin," Kakashi said cheerfully, giving the four teens another weird eye smile.

"Wait! What do you mean whether we will actually become genin? We already passed the test at the academy!" Sakura yelled indignantly.

"Ah, yes you did, but that was only to see if you had the skill required to become a genin. Every potential team is given a unique test by their sensei to determine if they truly have what it takes to become a shinobi, prior accomplishments aside. If you fail, you go back to the academy for another year, should you pass, then you will get to keep your forehead protector and serve as an official shinobi of Konoha" the jonin explained calmly.

"So what's this test we have to do?" Sasuke asked impatiently. He was sick of waiting around and doing pointless things instead of training, and he was determined to become a ninja as fast as possible.

"Hmm, well normally I would postpone the test for tomorrow and give you guys some time to rest up, but since I doubt it would change the outcome of the test, I think I'll just give it to you now" Kakashi said with yet another eye smile. "Meet me at the third training ground as quickly as you can" he added quickly before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Izo and Naruto shared an emotionless look and shrugged nonchalantly. They both put their hands into the same seal and quickly vanished in swirls of leaves. Sakura and Sasuke were both surprised at this since neither of them thought they knew the Shunshin jutsu, and also because of the visual difference between each Shunshin. Kakashi's had left a swirl of green leaves, Naruto's had left a swirl of red leaves, and Izo had left in a swirl of purple leaves, the latter of which Sasuke found to be amusing.

"Purple leaves? How girly" he murmured before walking to the stairs.

Sakura lingered in the same spot for a few moments, wondering what the test could be. Her eyes widened once she realised that she had been left alone.

"Hey, wait up Sasuke-Kun!" she called out, running after the onyx eyed boy.

* * *

><p>Kakashi was almost surprised to find Naruto and Izo waiting for him at the training grounds. He knew he had taken longer to get here than he normally did, and he had made a short stop to pick up some Bento for use in the test, but he was still fast in terms of a regular jonin. For the boys to get here before him, it almost solidified his assumption of prior training.<p>

"Yo!" he greeted with a small wave, eye smiling the whole time.

"Yo!" both boys returned the greeting, copying the jonin perfectly, down to the small wave, and in Naruto's case, even the eye smile.

Kakashi instantly dropped his lazy stance, managing to become serious effortlessly. "Don't do that…ever again," he said coldly.

"Don't worry, we won't. It's not as funny as I thought it would be to copy the famous copy ninja," Naruto said dejectedly.

"You know of me?" Kakashi asked in surprise.

Naruto tilted his head curiously. "You thought we didn't?" he asked curiously.

"Well no, not really. The academy doesn't tend to teach children about people like me; they prefer to focus on more famous ninja who are well known for doing good deeds, those who are simply famous for their skill in killing tend to be left out" the Cycloptic jonin explained.

"Anyway" Kakashi began with a more laid back tone. "We have around five minutes before Sasuke should arrive, probably ten before Sakura gets here. Got any questions before we start?" he asked.

"Not really" Izo answered simply.

Kakashi shrugged and went back to reading his book. As he had guessed, Sasuke was the first one to arrive, albeit a bit later than expected coming in at almost ten minutes; the Uchiha spent the time waiting for Sakura glaring at the Uzumaki brothers. The jonin made a mental note to find some way of distracting the boy from those two; it wouldn't be helpful if he got jealous and spiteful.

Sakura took an astonishing fifteen more minutes to arrive, but even then, she was almost drenched in sweat and panting heavily. Kakashi sighed internally. He suspected that the girl was on some self-enforced 'diet' and probably not a healthy one either. He wasn't going to lie to himself; he had no idea on how to solve this problem, or any problem involving females for that matter. It was why he read Icha-Icha so openly; it kept most women away, and those that did actually talk to him treated him like a pervert. Oddly enough, being treated as a pervert was something he actually knew how to deal with.

_'Perhaps I could get Kurenai to sort this out for me' _Kakashi thought to himself before quickly shake his head free of such a detrimental thing. _'I can't ask her for help no matter what, my pride as a man will not stand for it. That and she would never let me live it down'_ he returned from his inner musings and gave the team another quick once over.

Naruto appeared to fine, if not slightly excited and full of energy. Kakashi had to say, he was impressed at how the once exuberant boy was able to compose himself. Izo also appeared to be fine but it was nearly impossible to tell; at best, Kakashi could see that the older boy had a relaxed stance, showing that he wasn't all too concerned by what was to come.

Sasuke had recovered from the minor exertion he had put himself through to get here, but he was still slightly fatigued. The silver haired jonin guessed that none of them had eaten since this morning, which worked perfectly in this particular situation. Sakura was…practically dead. The girl obviously didn't have any energy left to do anything in regards to the test he had planned, and that was a major problem.

The man sighed deeply. "Sakura, you can sit this one out. In your current state you'd only get hurt, and I highly doubt that your participation in this test will change the outcome," he said lazily.

Kakashi really hated himself for saying that. Had this been any other team, he would have postponed the test and given them all a chance; but this wasn't any other team, it was the Uchiha's team. The council had made it painfully clear that Sasuke was to pass the test, and if that meant that Kakashi had to pass an otherwise ineffective team then so be it.

That's why Sakura's participation in the test didn't matter. None of this actually mattered, at least to the council. As far as they were concerned, the Uchiha needed to excel as a shinobi, and to make sure that happened they had 'asked' (read "demanded") that Kakashi pay exclusive attention to the boys training. This team was destined to fail; yes, they would ultimately pass, but they were a failure either way.

Sakura sighed in relief as she walked over to one of the three wooden stumps that just so happened to be in this training ground. She sat up against it and watched on from the sidelines, waiting for moments to cheer for her Sasuke-Kun. Kakashi would have failed the team for just her alone if he could.

"Alright then. Here is your test," Kakashi said apathetically, holding out two small bells. "You will try to get one of these bells from me. If you fail to retrieve one within the next, oh let's say…two hours, you will fail. Failure will result in being tied to one of those stumps without food, as you watch the rest of us eat happily," he explained.

"Failing will also get you sent back to the academy. I'm sure I don't need to explain to you why that is such a bad thing," Kakashi said calmly. He casually tied the two bells to his waist with some thin cord and stared expectantly at the three boys.

"Hang on, why are there only two bells? You said we each had to get a bell to pass, but how are we all supposed to get a bell if there aren't enough?" Sasuke asked indignantly.

"Hey Sasuke, I'll give you a hint" Izo began casually. "The bell is a lie," he said quietly before collapsing into a pile of mud.

Kakashi's eye widened slightly. _'An earth clone? Where did he learn that jutsu?' _he thought curiously. His eye turned to a still grinning Naruto just in time to watch as he too disappeared, the shadow clone that stood in his place simply popping out of existence. The jonin turned to the last remaining boy and wasn't surprised to see him glaring at where the other two once stood, gritting his teeth in barely suppressed anger.

"Hmm, while I wouldn't necessarily disregard Izo's hint, I will give you some actual advice. If you really want to get a bell, you will have to attack me with the intent to kill," Kakashi said seriously.

Sasuke grunted in acknowledgement before dashing off into the surrounding trees. Kakashi remained exactly where he was, in the middle of the training field, and went back to reading his book. He hadn't noticed when Izo and Naruto switched out with their clones, or even when they made the clones. The shadow clone jutsu, along with its earth variant, weren't exactly the most surprising of techniques to see a 'genin' use; if anything, it merely pointed out that they obviously had exceptional chakra reserves.

Kakashi actually wondered if he had been talking to the real them at all. They had arrived at the training grounds before him so they could have easily made the clones and hidden themselves elsewhere. That, however, was an unsettling thought. Kakashi wouldn't put it past the boys to riddle the surrounding area with traps, and he did say to attack him with the intent to kill.

_'This team is going to give me the biggest headache of my career' _he whined to himself.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was angry, no, he was borderline furious. It was bad enough that he had been teamed up with the Uzumaki's, but now they were using jutsu that he didn't know, that hadn't been taught in the academy, jutsu that he could use to help kill…<em>him. <em>The thought of those two nobodies being better than him, an Uchiha, was sickening.

He could look past Izo being more skilled, the boy was a few years older after all. But Naruto was his age, and was apparently on the same level as Izo. That simply didn't sit right with him; it didn't make sense. How was a clan-less nobody better than he was? He was one of the last Uchiha, the once strongest clan in all of Konoha and possessor of the most powerful Dōjutsu known.

Ok, so he himself hadn't yet activated his own Sharingan, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he should have been better than anyone else his age; he had access to the Uchiha clan library for crying out loud. Sasuke gritted his teeth angrily. It wouldn't do him any good to focus on that right now; he had a bell to get, by any means he deemed necessary.

He slowly reached into the pouch attached to his belt, fingering lightly at the small collection of shuriken held within it. He narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, who was all but insulting his skill by reading. How could the man possibly be so relaxed and confident to read in this situation, or more importantly, how could the man dare to act as if he didn't even matter.

Quietly removing two shuriken from his pouch, Sasuke got ready to charge. An arrogant smirk made its way onto his to his face as he drew back his arm and aimed at the jonin. He _would_ get one of those bells.

* * *

><p>Kakashi almost wanted to cry out in despair. It was an odd thought to have, considering he had never done so before, despite what he had lived through; but as he stood quietly in the middle of the grass covered field, he couldn't help but feel discouraged at his job. On the plus side, he was getting really close to a specific spot in Icha-Icha paradise that held a special place in his heart. He never would figure out how Jiraiya managed to become such a literary genius.<p>

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you looked at it, Kakashi couldn't keep all of his attention on the masterpiece in his hand. He wasn't worried, far from it in fact, but he was curious, and the best way to quench that curiosity was to observe with a keen and analytical eye. He could cheat and use his Sharingan, but if any of the other jonin learnt that he had used it against a team of genin, he would become the laughing stock of the village.

The reason for his divided attention was simple; he couldn't sense Izo. He could easily sense Sasuke, since in the boy's apparent anger, he had forgotten to even try to suppress his chakra, and he could also vaguely sense Naruto. He couldn't exactly pinpoint the blonde's location, but thanks to the absurd amount of chakra the jinchuuriki possessed he was able to get a general location.

But then there was Izo, or more accurately, there wasn't. The boy had simply vanished, and aside from the residual chakra left over from the earth clone, Kakashi couldn't pick up anything. He had to admit though, as an ally Izo would make a great spy or assassin. For now, all the Cyclops could do was wait and hope that Izo didn't get the drop on him; the humiliation would be too much to live with otherwise.

Without warning, Kakashi lazily raised his left arm, catching two fast moving shuriken with his fingers and stopping them dead. He waited casually for the small bladed projectiles to stop spinning before carelessly throwing them in a random direction that turned out to not be so random. Sasuke jumped from his hiding spot in a tree, narrowly avoided his own shuriken and landing heavily on his feet.

Kakashi glanced up at the Uchiha. "I never expected you to be the first to rush into things," he said, calmly turning to the next page in his book. "But then again, my expectations were of proper genin. Perhaps you aren't quite ready yet" he added thoughtfully.

That was the final straw. Sasuke let out a war cry and charge head first at the jonin, grabbing a kunai from the holster on his leg as he went. "I'm better than you think!" he yelled as he launched himself forward and slashed at Kakashi.

Kakashi didn't even blink his eye as he calmly stepped back and caught the kunai with his book, trapping the blade between the pages. With one hand, he twisted his prized Icha-Icha and with it Sasuke's kunai, removing both from the boys reach. Sasuke barely had time to register what had happened when he was forced to duck under Kakashi's kick.

The onyx eyed boy quickly found himself trying to defend against an assault of punches, kicks, and a book? Was Kakashi seriously using a book to attack him? What kind of person did that? Sasuke's answer came in the form of a slap, a literal slap across the face from said book wielding ninja. The 'book slap' as it would later be called, sent Sasuke several feet through the air before he crashed to the ground in a confused heap.

"Well, I definitely wouldn't say that you were better than I thought you would be, but you weren't exactly worse either. If you let your emotions get the better of you so easily you will almost always fail, especially with anger," Kakashi explained. "Anger can be effective when carefully channelled into a particular goal; but when anger is the sole reason for that goal, it is useless. Itachi knew that better than most"

"Don't you dare say his name!" Sasuke screamed in outrage, his hands speeding through hand seals. **"Katon: Fireball jutsu!" **he exclaimed loudly taking a deep breath and exhaling a large ball of fire at the jonin.

The flames engulfed Kakashi and a small area around where he stood, burning everything as it went. Sasuke smirked victoriously and watched as the flames quickly died down, his breath a little more haggard than before. He quickly realised that he had put far too much chakra into that jutsu, meaning that he probably couldn't do it again without using up the rest of his reserves. He hated to admit it, but he really had let his anger get the best of him.

Sasuke's eyes widened as the last of the flames died out. Kakashi wasn't there, which was good he supposed; wouldn't be much use to have a dead sensei, or a sensei that was so easy to kill. But now there was a problem; he didn't know where Kakashi was, and he still didn't have a bell. He didn't know where Naruto or Izo had gone off to, and quite frankly, he didn't care. As long as they didn't take both bells, he couldn't care less about what they did.

**"Doton: Head-hunter jutsu!" **Kakashi exclaimed, his hand bursting from beneath the ground and gripping onto Sasuke's leg. Sasuke's actually yelped quietly as he was suddenly dragged into the ground until only his head was visible.

Kakashi suddenly appeared crouching in front of Sasuke before patting the boy lightly on the head. "Nice try Sasuke. That fireball really surprised me, I honestly didn't know you could do that," the man praised.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted in response.

Kakashi quickly narrowed his eye on the boy. "However, if you don't get a hold of your emotions, you will suffer for it. You can't just snap at the mere mention of his name; what would happen if an enemy figured that out, if they used it to manipulate you into being an easy target. Just think about it for a while," he explained calmly before disappearing in a burst of speed.

"Hn, you have no idea what you're talking about" Sasuke muttered, glaring at the spot where the man had stood. "I will kill Itachi, no matter what it takes," he growled.

* * *

><p>Kakashi landed lightly on the ground in the middle of the numerous trees that made up a good portion of this training ground. This was where he could sense Naruto chakra, but that still didn't help in any way shape or form. The boys chakra was simply too potent and too plentiful, meaning that any residual chakra left by him could barely be differentiated from the boy himself.<p>

It seemed that Naruto knew this as well, since he had effectively coated this entire area in his chakra to create a form of chakra smoke screen. This served several purposes that made things extremely difficult for Kakashi; for one, the 'cloud' of chakra would be worse than a thick fog should he try and use his Sharingan. Another problem was that it interfered with his chakra enhanced sense of smell; Kakashi wasn't sure how, but Naruto knew how to be a sensor types worst nightmare.

"Yo! Kakashi sensei" Naruto said cheerfully, making the jonin spin around to face him. "Are you ready?" he asked curiously.

Kakashi eye smiled. "I don't know. Do you think you'll put up a good fight?" he asked jokingly.

He instantly regretted that question as he was forced to dodge a slash aimed for his throat, the offending weapon used being an odd short sword type blade that curved slightly and had a ring between the blade and hilt. This scimitar like 'sword', if you could call it that, was held by Izo, who had pulled down his scarf. Kakashi was a little put off by the grin the boy had, showing off his teeth that appeared to have been filed into points.

"I think we will at least give you a challenge," he said, sniffing the air slightly before going through some hand seals. **"Suiton: Hidden mist jutsu!" **he exclaimed.

Within moments, the entire area was covered in a thick blanket of fog; combined with the trees, it made for a particularly dark and eerie battlefield. Kakashi sighed as he raised his forehead protector, uncovering his Sharingan, much to his shame. The thick fog, as well as the 'cloud' of chakra that filled the surrounding area, made any form of detection other than direct line of sight almost impossible.

"Hey Kakashi sensei, let's play hide and seek!" Naruto exclaimed happily, as he slowly became transparent.

_'I already hate these two!' _Kakashi grumbled to himself. It seemed that he would have a lot to talk to the Hokage about after this.

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><p><strong>Please don't forget to leave a review.<strong>

**Also, if anyone wants better idea of what Izo's short sword looks like, Google "scimitar throwing blade" images, it should be easy to find the one i tried to describe in the story, albeit the ones Izo uses are quite larger.**


	7. Annoying Clones

**A/N:**

Here's the new chapter, i hope you all enjoy. Also, i feel i should point out that i did try to write an actual battle scene in this chapter but after four different attempts i gave up on that idea. I know that at some point i will have to write an actual fight into this story, but for now i'm just gunna keep dodging it.

I would also like to point out that the pairing for Naruto is still up for debate since I've already decided on the pairing for my OC. If anyone has a suggestion on this please review or PM me your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any the characters, or any copies of the Manga, not even any of the anime. I literally don't own anything to do with Naruto in any shape or form.

* * *

><p>The Sandaime grumbled quietly as he deactivated his crystal ball jutsu. It was all but useless to try and keep an eye on Naruto and Izo when they fought like this; the amount of chakra that the jinchuuriki pumped out alone was enough to make it difficult to lock onto him, while Izo's mist made it literally impossible to see anything. The Hokage had been looking forward to seeing the shocked expression on Kakashi's face when he got a run for his money.<p>

"I see that the boys are going well," Danzō said suddenly, walking out from the shadows.

"Ah, Danzō, it's good to see you have returned" Hiruzen said casually. "But would it kill you to use the door for once?" he asked dryly.

"I would rather not find out. I have grown quite attached to my life and would prefer to keep it as it is" the elder said calmly.

The Hokage gave his old friend a blank stare. "You could have just said no," he muttered.

The old war hawk ignored that comment and calmly walked up to Sarutobi's desk, removing a small scroll from the improvised sling that his robes formed for his bandaged right arm. He passed to Hiruzen, who quickly opened it and read it with a smile.

"I see that your mission went well," Hiruzen said happily.

"Indeed. It seems that Kirigakure is more than grateful for our assistance in ending the civil war, even if it is still unofficial," Danzō said stoically.

"Unofficial or not, Naruto has already tried to use it as an excuse" Sarutobi said with a sigh. "I don't know what I'm going to do with that boy"

"I take it he wasn't too thrilled about being made a genin?" Danzō asked curiously, getting a slight nod from his rival. "Unfortunately it cannot be helped. The council will complain should the jinchuuriki gain too much authority without proving himself, which they won't take notice of anyway" he said irritably.

_'The council are such fools' _he thought to himself. _'They would sooner let such a powerful weapon rust away as a civilian than shine it up to serve as a sword' _needless to say, Danzō was not a fan of the council. The clan heads he could cope with, being shinobi themselves made them think more logically on the matters at hand; the civilian council though, they were useless.

The civilian council was a joke in the ROOT leaders eyes, all twelve of them. They were only created to represent the civilian population in matters that had a direct effect on them, but they had the nerve to make themselves a part of anything and everything they could. Their pointless arguments about profits and trade routes made it difficult to decide on shinobi specific concerns.

They were all concerned that missions to any of the other countries could ruin any potential trade agreements, and Kami forbid that they couldn't have their special herbal tea imported from who knows where. Danzō would have disbanded them a long time ago if he were in Sarutobi's position, but they were a necessary obstacle…for now that is.

Despite their uselessness, they did serve a purpose. So long as they continued to include themselves in whatever they felt like, they would create a subsequent influx of paperwork; Hiruzen had managed to use this to his advantage, concealing his own unofficial paperwork amongst the sea of unimportant and over glorified complaints that they made.

Danzō had begrudging respect for how his rival had handled the situation; he would never think to hide documents in such a way, but it had proved itself to be more than effective over the past few years. No one ever dared to look through all of that paperwork without being ordered to do it, and those that did never made it very far before giving up.

"So what was the Mizukage's answer? Will she be attending?" Hiruzen asked curiously.

"She all but demanded to come once she heard that Naruto and Izo would be participating" Danzō replied. "They will be participating, right?" he asked seriously.

"I doubt that they would pass up such a chance," the Hokage said casually. "But I do worry about what she might do in response to this" he added worriedly.

"That women is…concerning" Danzō said quietly. "I wonder how she was elected as Mizukage, but at least she did give me files on the team she wishes to have accompany her," he continued, retrieving three small files from under his robes and placing them on the desk.

The Hokage calmly picked up the files, giving each one a brief overlook. "Hmm, they all seem to fine, if you don't count the obvious that is" he said casually.

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea. Our reports suggest that the Kazekage will be sending his own jinchuuriki, who we have reason to believe is highly unstable. If you take into account that our own jinchuuriki will be attending, problems might arise," the war hawk said, expressing his unease regarding the situation.

"No need to fret, old friend" Hiruzen began with a dismissive wave. "We still have quite some time before we even need to start actually thinking about the chunin exams. For now, why don't you go and pay our dear friend a visit; I'm interested in what information they have for us"

Danzō frowned slightly. "You need to stop using me as your personal messenger Sarutobi. It's demeaning," he said bluntly.

Hiruzen smirked. "Then perhaps you should stop being so good at hiding in the shadows" he countered.

The old war hawk grumbled as he walked back into the shadows in the corner of the office and disappeared. Hiruzen took a deep relaxing breath as he reached under his desk, placing his hand on a small and very well hidden storage seal. With a small pulse of chakra, and an unnoticeable puff of smoke, the contents of the seal were released.

Hiruzen smiled as he leaned back into his chair, stretching his legs and placing them upon his desk. "No matter how many times I read this, it never gets old," he said cheerfully to himself as he opened the small orange book he had gotten from the seal. "And thank you Minato, for installing that storage seal while you were in office," he added with a chuckle.

If only he knew that it was actually Kushina who had put that seal there, albeit for more practical reasons, like snacks.

* * *

><p>Kakashi ducked under yet another of Izo's weird short swords. He had learnt very quickly, that despite their size, they were incredibly accurate when thrown. The jonin guessed that the older boy was simply reusing the same two swords over and over, collecting them after each throw. Not a terrible strategy to use in the mist he had created, but not very effective either.<p>

_'Still. I can't even fight back while I'm in this mist, so I'll have to wait for them to come to me' _he thought to himself.

He had to admit, this was definitely a first for him. Kakashi had never fought anyone who could put him on the defensive simply because he couldn't find them; even his Sharingan, the very thing that made him famous, was next to useless in this fight. He could still use it to predict movements, but that was only if he could actually get one of them in his line of sight.

Since Naruto had somehow turned invisible, and Izo was keeping his distance, Kakashi doubted that he would be able to do any more than hold them back and hope for a chance to counter one of them. Spinning around quickly, he brought up the kunai held tightly in his right hand; with a loud clanging sound, the blade of Naruto's katana was stopped dead.

"Damn, you heard me didn't you?" the blonde asked sheepishly, letting his jutsu drop and showing himself to the jonin.

Kakashi eye smiled. "You are a bit heavy footed, especially for a shinobi," he answered simply, jabbing his left arm forward and stabbing Naruto in the face with another kunai.

The shadow clone popped out of existence as the jonin fell back into his defensive stance. He focussed a small amount of chakra to his ears, using his slightly enhanced hearing to listen out for either of his opponents. Kakashi frowned under his mask as he identified five targets quietly leaping from tree to tree, all of them circling around him in one direction or another.

In an instant, all five Naruto's leapt from the trees and charged him from all sides. Kakashi stood lazily and waited for them to reach him, not even moving to block any of the swords as they stabbed at him. The eyes of every Naruto widened as they stared at the other Naruto that they had all skewered, who had also managed to skewer one of the other attacking Naruto's. With two puffs of smoke, both clones dispelled, leaving the remaining three Naruto's to look at each other in confusion.

"What just happened?" one of them asked calmly.

"I think we just got punked" another one replied with a snicker.

The third Naruto sighed and palmed his face. "Why must my clones be such morons?" he muttered to himself. "He obviously substituted himself with one of us," he explained.

"Ohhh" the two clones said in realisation.

The real Naruto face palmed again. "I really hate myself sometimes"

"Bit of advice for you," Kakashi said casually, appearing behind the real Naruto with a kunai to his throat. "If you're planning to use clones to distract your opponent, don't inform them of which one is the real you" he said with an eye smile, making the two clones step back with disturbed looks.

Naruto smirked. "Thanks for the tip. But I'd like to give you some advice as well" he said as calmly as one could with a knife at their throat.

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "What might that be?" he asked curiously.

"Don't make bold assumptions," the blonde said simply, quickly putting his hands into a seal. "Boom!" he yelled with a grin.

Kakashi's eyes widened as Naruto exploded violently, sending the jonin flying backwards and into a tree. He barely had time to regain his bearings before two katana sliced into his neck, removing his head cleanly from his shoulders. The two remaining Naruto's looked down just in time to see the decapitated body disappear in a puff of smoke and revealing itself as a cleanly sliced log.

"Dammit!" one of the blondes exclaimed angrily.

"Who would have thought he would have the blessing of the log" the other one said in surprise.

"Don't you dare start that crap again. I already had to put up with you lot praising that Kami forsaken log for an entire month; I refuse to let it begin again" the real Naruto said irritably.

The clone grabbed at its chest in mock shock. "But sir, the log is always there for us, the log is loving, the log is…" it tried to argue before Naruto cut it off by cutting its head off.

"That was…odd" Kakashi said from the tree he was standing in.

Naruto sighed irritably. "You don't know the half of it. I'm like my own worst enemy sometimes" he replied. "Now are we going to get back to fighting, or are you gunna play treehouse?"

Kakashi shrugged before leaping at Naruto, followed closely by ten clones. The blonde's eyes widened slightly as he was forced to start dodging the small army of Kakashi's. He might have been good, but Kakashi was definitely better, and Naruto knew that he couldn't match the silver haired jonin without going extremely overboard. If he was lucky, Izo would take this opportunity to join in.

Naruto narrowly dodged another slash from a kunai; he quickly lashed out with his katana and severed the clone's legs. He smirked triumphantly before bringing up his sword to block four kunai from two Kakashi's. He grit his teeth as he struggled to force back the two copies, taking notice of the other eight that were watching lazily.

_'He's playing with me? Seriously? This is so uncool' _he thought angrily as he was forced back a little further by the two clones. Naruto hated being in a deadlock like this, but it at least gave him some time to think. _'Izo better be on his way' _

Kakashi watched lazily from amongst his clones. He was very unimpressed by Naruto's skill with a sword, and even more so by the lack of teamwork between him and Izo. He had expected the two to work together throughout the entire test, not just set up the battlefield and then separate. Kakashi was really going to have his work cut out for him with this team.

_'I still can't sense Izo though, so perhaps there is still hope' _he thought with a shrug.

* * *

><p>Izo watched as Naruto struggled to hold back the two clones he was deadlocked with. He almost felt the desire to interfere, to save his little brother from the ass kicking he was sure to receive, but he decided to let that thought die. It was not his reasonability to protect the blonde from absolutely everything, especially when it interfered with his relaxing time.<p>

He sighed quietly before biting into an apple. He had not been aware that there were apple trees in Konoha, but he certainly wasn't going to complain about them. "Your clone sucks" he muttered, taking another bite from the apple.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise that my clones had to be omnipotent in order to be up to your standards," Naruto said in annoyance, crossing his arms with a huff.

Izo turned to look at his brother who was now sitting next to him on a tree branch. "They don't have to be omnipotent, they just have to be on the same level as the real you," he said calmly.

"You already know that it doesn't work that way. The shadow clone jutsu only copies me; after the changes you made to my seal, it won't even register anything to do with the Kyuubi as a part of me, hence the weaker clones" Naruto explained with a light glare.

"I already said I'm sorry, jeez. It's not even that big of a deal, you don't need your clones having access to that stuff anyway; imagine the chaos should more than one of you lose control" Izo reasoned.

Naruto let out a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess you're right. How long do you think that clone will last?" he asked curiously.

"Well, it is using quite a bit of chakra just to hold its own out there, so I'd guess another two or three minutes" the blindfolded boy said, taking another bite from his apple.

Naruto's eye twitched slightly. He wasn't exactly a big fan of apples, or any fruit for that matter. After Izo tied him to a tree for a week with nothing but healthy food, Naruto had developed a distinct dislike for anything that didn't have the word ramen in its name. Since then, Izo had made a habit of eating apples when around him. He never did it too often, but he did it just enough to get on the blondes nerves.

"I wonder how the Uchiha is coping" Izo said thoughtfully. "Didn't Kakashi burry him?"

"Yep" Naruto answered with a smile.

* * *

><p>Sasuke glared hatefully at the insignificant ant that somehow had the audacity to stand before him and stare at him. He vowed to crush the creature as soon as he was free from his earth prison, which was proving itself to be a bit of a bitch. He couldn't even scratch his nose and he had long since lost all feeling in his right leg; the young Uchiha couldn't see this day getting any worse.<p>

"Sasuke-Kun!" Sakura squealed as she ran towards him.

The boys onyx eyes widened in fear. _'I stand corrected' _he mentally growled to himself. Sasuke closed his eyes tightly and prayed that the girl wouldn't try to use his situation to do anything inappropriate to him. He wasn't sure if he would be able to live with himself if that happened.

"Sasuke-Kun, what happened? Why are you only a head?" the pink haired girl asked frantically.

_'She cannot possibly be that stupid' _he thought with a blank stare. "I'm just buried, so hurry up and dig me out" he said with a mental groan. He was never going to live this down, ever. Thankfully, despite her uselessness, Sakura managed to dig him out rather quickly.

"Where are the others?" he asked quickly.

"Um, I think I saw Kakashi go into the forest, but there's really thick mist in there" Sakura replied, pointing in the direction of the mist shrouded trees.

Sasuke didn't even wait for her to finish before he took off towards the trees, making sure to step on the ant as he went. He still had time to get a bell, even if he had to take one from the Uzumaki's.

* * *

><p>Naruto's clone growled angrily as he was pushed back even further by Kakashi's clones. Without access to the Kyuubi's chakra, he didn't stand a chance at matching the physical strength of an adult jonin, let alone two clones of one. He could feel his chakra reserves getting dangerously low, and he was more than aware that he was only supposed to be a distraction, but that didn't make the next part any less annoying.<p>

He dropped the scowl he had plastered on his face, replacing it with a wide toothy grin. The clone let go of his katana and closed his eyes as Kakashi's clones slashed through him with their kunai, excessive amounts of blood pouring from the wounds and all over the clones. He reopened his bright blue eyes just in time to see the wide, fearful eyes of every Kakashi before putting his hands into a single seal.

"Boom" he breathed out before exploding into a ridiculous amount of blood.

Kakashi was actually surprised. He and all of his clones shared the exact same confused look as the blood showered down on all of them, staining their silver hair a dull crimson. This was not something he would expect from any opponent, ever; he wasn't even aware that there was such a thing as a clone that could do that.

The popping sounds that accompanied two of his clones dispelling broke Kakashi out of his musings. He dropped back into a defensive stance, followed quickly by the remaining seven clones as they all formed a small back to back circle around him…or at least that's what it looked like. Kakashi had switched places with one of his clones, letting him play the part of expendable defence.

As soon as one of the Uzumaki brothers attempted to go for the 'real' Kakashi, all of the surrounding clones, along with the original, would simply capture them and use them as a hostage against whichever of the boys was left. It wasn't a full proof plan, but it would do the job. So long as something ridiculous didn't happen, such as Sasuke appearing, it would be fine.

"Hey, Kakashi, guess what?" the 'real' Kakashi said, making the original's eyes widen to comical proportions. "Boom" the clone yelled.

The explosion knocked Kakashi off his feet and dispelled all of his clones, while at the same time drenching the area in even more blood. The jonin noticed, with some concern, that the clone had exploded into pieces, pieces that were still lying on the ground. This fight was quickly climbing the ranks in Kakashi's book of weird shit that happened to him; the top spot belonged to that one time that he had seen Might Guy in a speedo.

Kakashi shuddered at that memory. _'So much for sleeping tonight' _he mumbled mentally.

A gasp rung out through the small clearing that Kakashi only just realised he was in; it seemed that the mist was thinning slightly. He turned and stared blankly at Sasuke, who was looking around at the blood covered clearing, the bloody body parts, and the blood covered Kakashi. The jonin guessed that he must have looked quite terrifying through the eyes of a mentally scared thirteen year old.

He wasn't surprised when the boy dropped the kunai he was holding and fell to his knees, vomiting in a mixture of fear and disgust. The scene he walked into must have reminded him in some way of the Uchiha massacre so Kakashi couldn't hold this kind of reaction against him. The silver haired man raised an eyebrow when Sasuke tried to stumble out of the clearing, only to pass out and fall flat on his face.

_'That part was unexpected' _he thought to himself. Sasuke never seemed like the kind of person to pass out just from seeing an apparent dead body, even one that was blown to pieces and lying all over the place.

"Alright, to be completely honest, I think that one was entirely my fault" Izo said sheepishly.

"You don't say?" Naruto asked, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Kakashi turned to the brothers, pulling his forehead protector back down over his Sharingan as he did. He let out a quiet sigh. "The test is over, none of you got a bell and none of you figured out the real meaning behind that test," he said tiredly.

"Uh, isn't it teamwork?" Naruto asked dumbly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought" Izo agreed.

"It was teamwork, yes. However, none of you worked together" Kakashi stated calmly.

"What the hell are you talking about? Me and Naruto worked together just fine, and I'm pretty damn sure that the Uchiha didn't dig himself out of the ground" Izo said, pointing to the unconscious boy.

"How exactly did you two work together? I only remember Naruto actually attacking me, you just threw those swords at me a few times," the jonin said with a question look.

"Of course Naruto was the only one attacking you, he was the distraction!" Izo exclaimed. "Did you really think that your clone just decided to blow up into pieces all by itself? I switched it with one of my clones as soon as you made that stupid circle formation; turned out great too 'cause I managed to grab these," he explained, holding up two bells as he grinned viciously.

Kakashi actively ignored the fact that the boys grin made him uneasy; he could definitely see why some shinobi from Kirigakure prided themselves on their pointed teeth, it truly was an intimidating look. "I also assume that Sasuke passing out is your fault because of the bloody body pieces scattered around" he said dryly.

"Nope, I've had a wide range genjutsu worked into the mist. You had your Sharingan active the whole time so it didn't do jack shit to you, but I left it in place in case either of the other two tried to interfere" Izo explained casually before scratching his head curiously. "It wasn't a very powerful genjutsu either. At most, it should have just made things look scarier than they normally would, maybe make him see something he's scared of. I don't see why he freaked out like that though"

Kakashi felt the need to face palm himself as hard as he could. "He just saw me, with my Sharingan, surrounded by blood and body parts. He probably just had a flashback of the Uchiha massacre," the jonin said.

"Ohhh" both boys said in realisation.

"You're both idiots," Kakashi said with a blank stare. "Let's go get Sakura, you all pass no matter what I say so there's no point to stay out here," he grumbled.

"We already know. The old man suspected that the council would make you pass whatever team the Uchiha was on" Naruto replied with his idiotic grin already back on his face.

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that. There are going to be enough problems with this team as it is, I don't need you two knowing more than I do, or rather I don't need to know that you know more than me" the jonin said as he walked over and picked Sasuke up.

As they walked from the clearing, the blood and body parts all vanished in a large puff of smoke while the mist simply thinned until it was gone. Kakashi was annoyed to find that the blood that covered him was still there but neither of the boys seemed to notice or care.

"What kind of clones were those, if you don't mind me asking?" Kakashi inquired curiously.

"Naruto used a combination of shadow clones, and that exploding blood clone; I used my own variation of the blood clone that I combine with my earth affinity to give it a body that will remain for a while even after dismemberment or other forms of extensive damage" Izo explained, giving the jonin another unnerving toothy grin.

"Hmm, that sounds useful. Perhaps you could teach me this blood clone jutsu," the Cyclops suggested hopefully.

"No can do, sensei. That jutsu is one of the few techniques that we have personally put into the scroll of seals, meaning that we can't just teach 'em to whomever we want. Feel free to ask the old man though, I'm sure he wouldn't mind" Naruto replied.

"That old geezer doesn't care about anything that doesn't have a double D cup size. I'm amazed he manages to run a village that has female shinobi; I would have expected them to skin him alive by now," Izo said with a chuckle.

"Actually, lord Sandaime has a jutsu that allows him to spy on the female side of the hot springs from the safety of his office" Kakashi said casually, not taking the time to actually think about what he was saying.

"That wrinkled dick bastard! I'm going to skin him, burn him, then I'll chuck him in the female side of the hot springs just so he can understand what true suffering is" the blindfolded boy growled hatefully.

"You do realise that threatening the Hokage is a crime, don't you?" the silver haired man asked curiously.

"Yeah, yeah, trivial legalities, useless boring political bullshit; I already read enough books on law to cover the basics" Izo answered irritably.

Kakashi decided not to push the subject, he too wasn't particularly happy with the Sandaime keeping that jutsu all to himself, but that didn't mean he was going to complain about it. Aggravating the man known as the Kami of shinobi was not the most pleasant of suicide methods. Kakashi would much rather be killed by Anko Mitarashi than Hiruzen Sarutobi, and that was saying something considering he was a guy.

It didn't take very long for the small group to make it back to the open field of the training ground. They all immediately took notice of Sakura, well…everyone but Sasuke that is. The Uchiha was still unconscious and slung over Kakashi's shoulder, something that could either save the boy from the fan girl or condemn him in some horrifying way.

The pink haired girl was sitting on the grass leaning against one of the three wooden posts, taking very little notice of her surroundings as she filed her nails. Sakura didn't even notice as the rest of team seven walked up to her until their shadows blocked the sun. The girl looked up angrily, obviously intending to shout at whoever was standing over her, but the words died in her throat as her eyes widened.

"Sasuke-Kun!" she screamed in horror, jumping to her feet and moving to check on the unconscious boy.

Sakura quickly stopped halfway as she stared at Kakashi fearfully, only having just noticed that the silver haired man was drenched in blood. Her bright green eyes darted from the now crimson haired man to Sasuke, who was also covered in quite a lot of blood. She looked to Naruto, only to find that the blonde boy was grinning like an idiot, before she looked to Izo. Her eyes widened further as she realised that his scarf was pulled down, giving her a clear view at his filed down teeth.

"Y-y-y…you…k-killed…S-Sasuke-Kun" she stuttered pitifully before finally passing out.

"That…took far longer than I expected" Izo said with a frown.

Kakashi tried to muster up the energy to glare at the boy, but failed miserably. "You planned this didn't you?" he asked lazily.

"Yes, yes I did. But since I'm such a nice guy, me and Naruto will take these two to…wait, where should we take them?" he asked.

The jonin sighed. He was going to kill the Hokage for resigning him from ANBU, then he would slaughter the council for…well everything in general; those guys were assholes. "Just take them to the hospital for now; I'll sort everything else out somehow. I'll send you two a message on where to meet up tomorrow," he said lazily, putting his hands into a seal and disappearing in a Shunshin.

"Should we have warned him that my blood clones are mixed with red hair dye?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"Nah, he'll be fine, I think, maybe, so long as we play innocent" Izo replied dismissively.

"Alright, now let's drag these two to the hospital" the blonde said cheerfully, receiving a punch to the back of his head.

"No, you idiot, we will not drag them. You will do that stupid teleporting thing and take them there," the older boy ordered in annoyance.

"You do realise that the only reason you hate the Hiraishin is because you can't use it, right?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Izo glared at his little brother. "Do you want me to make Kana give you _the talk_ again?" he asked dangerously.

"No"

"Good. Now hurry up and teleport the emo and his tumour!" the ash haired boy yelled.

"I don't like you anymore" Naruto muttered.

"You've never liked me," Izo countered before disappearing in a purple leaf Shunshin.

* * *

><p>Kakashi was surprised, for the umpteenth Kami damn time today, as he stared at both the Sandaime and an odd ANBU woman. Having been ANBU captain for a while meant that Kakashi knew all of the mask types that were used by them, all resembling some form of animal for the most part. So the fact that this woman was wearing a mask that didn't match any that he knew off, struck him as odd.<p>

It also didn't help that the mask she was wearing reminded him of one of his old teammates, with two purple rectangular markings where her cheeks would be. Thankfully, that was the only resemblance he could find; he didn't know what he would do if he started seeing a constant reminder of Rin around the village.

"Ah, Kakashi, good to see you. I trust that you are here to ask about your genin team, who I am sure passed with flying colours," Hiruzen said cheerfully, making sure to add a good amount of sarcasm to the last part.

"Yes, I'm here for some well-deserved answers and perhaps a shower too" the Cycloptic jonin said lazily, gesturing to the blood that was quickly drying on him. "But first things first, I think your guest might need to leave"

"Oh don't worry about her. If you're here to ask about Naruto and Izo, then she is probably the best person to ask anyway," the Hokage said with a smile. "And for the record, Naruto's blood clones are mixed with a very high powered hair dye. You couldn't wash it out even if you tried"

"And how long does it last?" the crimson haired man asked emotionlessly.

"About seven months, give or take a few weeks," Sarutobi answered.

"Can we get back to the more important matters? I wanna know how my boys did in the test" Kana whined childishly.

"Your boys?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Oh, right, you haven't met. Kakashi, allow me to introduce Kana Uzumaki, Naruto and Izo's adopted mother of sorts" Hiruzen said happily.

Kakashi didn't even blink. Instead, he turned and walked to the door. "I will come back tomorrow when I feel that I can cope with this catastrophic fuckup of a day," he said, closing the door as he left.

"He's even worse than I remember" Kana said with a light giggle.

"Unfortunately, you are correct. Now, what did you come in here for?" Hiruzen asked.

"Oh, right" Kana said before pulling a scroll from a pouch on her belt and putting it on the desk. "The Tsuchikage has sent a message asking for a potential truce between our villages, but he asks that me and the boys be the ones to go and discuss the issue," she explained.

"It's definitely a trap. Ōnoki is probably aware of our jinchuuriki being an Uzumaki, hence why he has requested all of you. I'd rather not find out how he would react should he discover what Izo is" the Hokage said tiredly.

"So what should we do?" Kana asked calmly.

"I'm afraid that team seven will have to wait a little while before it can begin work. I'll be sending you and the boys to the meeting; if it's a trap you can handle yourselves, if not, then a truce between Konoha and Iwa will be beneficial. Where is the meeting being held?" he asked.

"Grass country" she answered simply.

"Inform the boys, I'll create an alibi," he said lazily. _'Those two are going to turn this into a major shit storm, I can just feel it' _he thought to himself as Kana left the office. On the plus side, he wouldn't have to worry about Kakashi having a mental breakdown anytime soon.

The Sandaime sighed exhaustedly. What was he going to do with those boys?

* * *

><p><strong>Don't forget to leave a review.<strong>


	8. The Candidate

**A/N:**

Here's the new chapter, I hope you all enjoy. Just to let everyone know, i have finally made a decision on the pairings for both Naruto and my OC, even though their relationships will not be a major factor in this story. The pairings are as follows: Izo/Kurotsuchi and Naruto/Fuu. I will eventually update the story info to show this, maybe.

If anyone has any suggestions for this story or simply wishes to offer constructive criticism, i implore you to leave a review or PM me your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Can someone please explain why we are doing this?" Izo asked curiously, as he leapt from another tree.<p>

Naruto, who was traveling alongside him, decided not to try and answer that particular question. Izo always asked this kind of question on the journey to a mission location and the blonde had learnt that no matter what the answer was, it would only lead to some form of comment about why the dingo was the superior canine species.

The jinchuuriki adjusted his fox styled ANBU mask that he was required to wear on this mission, much to his pleasure. He hated being officially recognised as a genin, and it hadn't even been two days since Kakashi passed them all against his will. It had been rather funny to learn that Sasuke had remained unconscious for several hours, if only the same could be said about Sakura. He and Izo had to avoid the pink haired girl for the entirety of yesterday.

But now they were here, away from the village and that damnable rank of genin, on a steady course towards grass country. Even Naruto wasn't exactly sure as to why the Hokage felt the need to actually send him, Izo, and Kana to a supposed trap, but he wasn't going to ask stupid question and forfeit the mission to someone else. He was going to make the most of these few days as an ANBU again.

Kana, who was leading ahead of them, sighed irritably from behind her ANBU mask. "We are doing this because the Hokage has tasked this mission to us and us alone," she answered.

"Ok, I understand that much. But if it's our mission, why the hell is she here?" he asked, pointing to the woman traveling behind them.

"Hey, I have a name you know!" said woman shouted at him.

Izo turned to glare at her from behind his own unique ANBU mask. In reality, he didn't have a problem with her tagging along at all, especially since she was quite attractive. No, Izo simply had a problem with the Hokage not making up his mind. If the old geezer wanted him and Naruto to be genin, then they would be genin, but they couldn't be ANBU at the same time; too many people would find them out.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. He didn't have the right to take out his frustration on the tag along, it wasn't her fault and she shouldn't suffer for it. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to ogle her every now and then. She was an odd character if he had ever seen one, with her dark violet hair done up in some weird fanned ponytail style. Her light brown pupil-less eyes that always had an unnerving glimmer of insanity, and her clothing choice made her intentions questionable.

The woman was dressed in a long tan overcoat, a mesh body suit that stretched from her neck to her thighs, pale grey shin guards, and a dark orange mini-skirt. Overall, it left very little to the imagination and probably offered little protection. On the plus side, it made watching her jump from tree to tree all the more enjoyable, and Izo was making the most of such a wondrous opportunity. Unfortunately, the woman took notice of the fact that he had been watching her for some time.

"Are you checking me out?" she asked with a mischievous grin.

Izo shrugged nonchalantly. "So what if I am. I hold more authority than you on this mission, so you can't really order me to stop," he said casually.

"Well, you can look all you want, but it'll cost ya to touch 'em. And you will need to start calling me by my name if you plan on getting in my good graces" she said, grinning like an idiot the whole time.

"And your name would be…?" Izo asked waving his hand in an expectant manner.

"The sexy and single snake mistress of Konoha, Anko Mitarashi!" the now named Anko exclaimed happily.

"Single you say? How intriguing" Izo said thoughtfully.

"Izo" Kana growled, glaring at the boy.

"Oh what now? Do you have something against me making casual conversation with our teammate?" he asked.

"No. But I do have a problem with you trying to hook up with someone you are too young for" Kana said seriously.

"You know, age is just a number when you're a shinobi," Anko said casually, winking at Izo.

"I'm afraid I will have to disagree with you there my dear. Age is clearly a word," Izo said sagely.

"Oh my, I fear you are correct. Perhaps you will find it in your heart to not punish me so harshly at our next resting point, I promise I'll be a good girl from now on and not make such a stupid mistake ever again," Anko said dramatically.

Izo and Anko stared at each other for several seconds before bursting into hysterical laughter. Naruto ever so casually moved himself further away from his brother while Kana simply groaned and considered running into a tree.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," the black haired woman muttered.

"You love us and you know it. Our idiocy changes nothing," the blindfolded boy said happily. "Isn't that right fox boy?" he asked Naruto.

As a security measure, Naruto actually had a code name while working as an ANBU, and since Konoha liked to name their ANBU after their respective masks, Naruto was given the code name of fox. It wasn't exactly the best of code names given the circumstances, but it did the job for now and that's all that mattered. So long as no one linked the fox mask to the Kyuubi, they would be fine.

"I'm not joining in on this. No matter what I say, you will continue to mess around with Anko-San until Kana kicks your ass. I'm keeping myself safe from the immanent chaos" Naruto replied calmly.

"Jeez brat, no need to be so formal" Anko said before turning to Kana. "By the way, what exactly is this mission we're going on?" she asked seriously.

"You don't know?" Kana asked, narrowing her eyes on the purple haired woman.

"Um, not really. The Hokage just kinda assigned me to your team as backup and said to follow your orders" she replied, scratching her head sheepishly.

Kana groaned mentally. She was going to kill Sarutobi when they got back from this. "We are heading to grass country to attend a potential peace meeting with Iwa. We're almost certain that it's a trap, but should it be the real deal we will be the ones to represent all of Konoha. That means you will have to be respectful, Anko-San" she explained calmly.

"Wow, you and blondie really need to loosen up. You're both too formal," Anko said casually.

"We just passed the border of fire country. We should reach the meeting point in around an hour or so," Naruto stated.

"Good to know. But a word of warning, grass country is not a forgiving place. A large majority of it is covered in dense forests, the rest in grassy fields, but the entire landscape is split apart by multiple rivers and ravines. Don't be surprised if the ground suddenly ends" Kana explained clearly.

"Where in grass country is this meeting being held?" Izo asked.

"Within one of the more open fields, there's an old military post that was built by Iwa during the third shinobi war. It's long since been abandoned, but I suppose that Iwa still wants some form of home field advantage should things turn ugly"

"What exactly are we planning to do if it's an ambush?" Anko asked.

"I don't know yet. We weren't given specifics for this mission, it was simply to show up and assess the situation. Once we arrive, we can plan ahead for how to deal with whoever Iwa sends"

"Is it even safe to have a fourth member on this mission? No offence Anko-San, but there might be some confidential information revealed in this meeting that you are not privileged to know" Naruto stated politely.

"No offense taken brat, I know I'm only a special jonin. But don't worry about your secrets, the Hokage already informed me of a lot of stuff regarding this team, mainly who you three are" Anko replied cheerfully.

Izo, Kana, and Naruto all turned to stare at her curiously. "Really?" they all asked in unison.

Anko nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. It really surprised me too, just to let you know. I was kinda bummed about having two kids hold authority over me, but it doesn't seem so bad so far," she said.

"I'm surprised that the old geezer trusts you that much. Even the ANBU aren't privileged to that much information about us; I mean sure, they can make all the assumptions they want, but they are never given a clear answer," Izo said casually before turning to stare blankly at Anko. "Whose dick did you have to suck?" he asked dryly.

Anko turned to the boy with a perverted grin and an all too frightening gleam in her eyes. "No ones, yet. But if you're making an offer, I'm sure we could come to some arrangement" she said, licking her lips.

"I honestly can't tell if you're playing with me or not" Izo admitted.

"I haven't even started _playing _with you yet" Anko said with a wink.

Izo turned to Kana. "I like this one, can we keep her?" he asked.

Kana suppressed her growing desire to kill Izo, reminding herself that he was technically her son. It just didn't help that he had to be the perverted one out of him and Naruto. "No, Izo, we cannot keep her. I'm sure she has her own duties back in the village, and you are still supposed to be a genin," she said sternly.

"Aww, you ruin all my fun" Izo whined childishly.

"That's what mothers are for, sweetie" she replied cheerfully.

The group quickly settled into a calm silence as the trees slowly began to be replaced by colossal sized mushrooms, each one easily as tall or large as a normal tree. The most surprising thing was the smell, since it stunk worse than any sane person could possibly imagine. Izo even pulled his scarf back over his mouth and nose, while Kana and Naruto simply acted as if nothing was wrong. Anko was a different story.

"Holy shit this place stinks!" she exclaimed in disgust, holding her nose.

"Don't you torture people for a living? Surely you've smelt worse than this," Kana said.

"But it's funny when they piss themselves. This…this is just cruel making me run through this forest" Anko replied.

"You didn't need to accept this mission. I still don't even know why the old man let someone like you come with us," Naruto said in a bored tone.

"What's that supposed to mean, brat?" the snake mistress asked harshly. "Is this because I'm not a member of ROOT?"

Kana sighed. "You're a candidate, aren't you?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

Anko smirked as she pulled a small metal plate from her weapons pouch, the kanji for ROOT clearly engraved on its surface. "Sure am! This mission is my field exam of sorts, so how I do here will determine if I get accepted or not. The reports from you three will also help if you put in a good word," she said, making sure to add a bit of hopefulness to the last part.

Izo, Naruto, and Kana all nodded in understanding as they continued through the forest. It hadn't taken long for the Hokage and Danzō to change ROOT into a well-funded and more sizable organisation. Alongside Danzō's recruitment methods, Hiruzen had started offering candidates from Konoha's official shinobi forces and specially selected individuals with promise. This all ended with the dramatic growth of ROOT, as well as the development of new ROOT factions.

So far, there were only three factions in total, consisting of ROOT, FALL, and STEM. The three Uzumaki's belonged to the faction known as FALL. This faction consisted of individuals who were highly skilled in various forms of combat that could be traced to other hidden villages. They were used on missions that required there to be no link to Konoha whatsoever, which were more often than not nothing but simple assassination tasks.

The other two factions were larger and more effective overall. ROOT remained as the body of the entire organisation, serving as the main task force for missions, while STEM served as the medical force for both ROOT and FALL. The Hokage had made the decision to create a medical based faction in order to reduce casualties and increase the productiveness of the organisation overall. Danzō had seen the usefulness of having more trained medic ninja, and so he didn't argue with it.

Members from the three factions were easy to tell apart, so long as they were working their shift. ROOT members all wore a blank ANBU mask with the kanji for ROOT printed on it, STEM member all wore the same mask but with a green stripe going horizontally across it, and FALL members all had the right to wear a personalised ANBU mask to make them unique. In the end, it didn't change very much when it came to how ROOT as a whole functioned, it simply made it more reliable.

"So which faction are you planning to join?" Izo asked curiously.

Anko shrugged. "Don't know yet, perhaps I'll just stick it out as a grunt for a while. I'm not sure if I have the skill to be accepted into FALL, and I sure as hell ain't no medic so STEM is out of the question," she said casually.

"Well, if you do a good job on this mission I'll be sure to put in a good word or two for you" Izo said as he gave her a thumbs up.

"You would do that for me, really?" Anko asked in mock surprise.

"Sure, but it'll cost ya" he answered a perverted grin that, thankfully, she couldn't see.

"Oh really? And how am I expected to pay you off, will it be all upfront or will there be a payment plan?" she asked with her own perverted grin.

"Will you two shut it already!" Kana snapped. "It's bad enough that Izo is a pervert on his own, I don't need you encouraging him, Anko"

"Hey, he started it" Anko defended.

"You played along" Izo countered.

"I don't care who started it or who's playing along, I'll finish it!" Kana growled angrily.

"If we kill them now and get our story straight I'm sure we could pass it off as a necessary loss," Naruto suggested to Kana.

"That's cold bro, real cold. I thought we were friends," the older sibling said in mock hurt. "But I guess that's what happens when you have a giant fox sealed inside you. I wonder if you'd be better if it was a dingo instead"

"I wonder if the Hokage is having as much trouble as I am" Kana muttered irritably as she ignored the argument between her sons. Sometimes she wondered what possessed her into accepting being adopted into the Uzumaki family.

* * *

><p>The Sandaime Hokage took a deep puff of his pipe as he calmly observed the numerous jonin that had gathered in front of him. All of them were here to report on what potential genin teams had passed, even though he already had a good idea on which teams had succeeded. He was the one who decided on team placements after all.<p>

"So, which teams passed?" he asked calmly.

A random jonin stepped forward and bowed slightly to him before clearing his throat. "Team 1, failed. They lacked neither the skill nor mental fortitude to be shinobi," he stated, stepping back into the crowd.

It continued like this for several minutes, with each potential jonin instructor stepping forward and giving a brief explanation as to why their team failed before re-joining the small group. Hiruzen felt himself sigh at each failed team, coming once again to the painful realisation that the academy curriculum had become disgracefully lax. _'Oh well, just another thing to add to our plans' _he thought tiredly.

Hiruzen looked up when Kakashi stepped forward, not even bothering to bow or take his lone eye off of the small book in his hand. "Team seven, consisting of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, and Izo Uzumaki, under the instruction of I, Kakashi Hatake, passed. They only did so by the skin of their teeth, but I can see potential in each of them," the silver haired Cyclops stated, struggling to keep a straight face as he stepped back.

Several of the other jonin all gasped and began murmuring amongst themselves. Not once had Kakashi ever even gotten close to passing a genin team in the few years that he had been a jonin sensei candidate. The concept of famous copy ninja actually training any genin at all, let alone the last Uchiha, was an exciting thought. With a jonin that skilled teaching them, the village was sure to gain several new skilled shinobi.

"Wait, who is Izo Uzumaki? I thought only _that…child_ had that name," a random jonin said, spitting out the word child.

"Hmm? Oh yes, Izo. He is Naruto's adopted brother" Hiruzen replied casually, earning some gasps.

"You allowed someone to adopt him?" someone shouted.

"No, I allowed Naruto to adopt Izo into the Uzumaki family" the old Sarutobi said with a shrug.

"WHAT! You allowed that demon to corrupt another child?" another unimportant jonin all but screamed.

The Hokage levelled a glare on the man, releasing a small amount of KI that instantly froze everyone in the room. "I would appreciate it if you refrained from referring to Naruto like that, lest I lose my patience with you people. And for the record, Izo agreed to being adopted, so you are not to make any bold accusations of Naruto" he said sternly.

"Now, I want the reports for the final teams. Any further outburst will result in demotion or outright removal from the shinobi forces, depending on how I feel at the time," Hiruzen stated calmly, recalling his killing intent.

A young woman with long black hair and striking red eyes stepped forward. She was dressed in a red mesh armour blouse with only one sleeve covering her right arm, and a mid-thigh length dress of sorts that appeared to be made out of large bandages. She bowed slightly to the Hokage before standing to give her own report.

"Team eight, consisting of Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuuga, under the instruction of I, Kurenai Yūhi, passed. They work well as a team and possess excellent skills as trackers," she stated calmly before stepping back.

Hiruzen nodded slightly. "Team nine is still in rotation, so we will move onto team ten," he said, motioning to the next jonin.

A tall man with brown eyes, short black spiky hair, and a beard, stepped forward. He was garbed in the standard Konoha jonin uniform with the addition of a light blue sash with the kanji for 'fire' on it. He, much like Kakashi, decided to forgo the respective bow, and instead took a drag of his cigarette. He either didn't notice or didn't care about the glare that Kurenai sent his way.

"Team ten, consisting of Ino Yamanaka, Chōji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara, under the instruction of I, Asuma Sarutobi, passed. They have a firm grasp of team work, even if they don't make use of their abilities without substantial motivation," he said casually.

The Hokage stared at his son curiously. "Are you sure a team made up of such unmotivated individuals is worth passing? I do not want to risk casualties simply because they would rather act like children than do what needs to be done," he said seriously.

"Isn't that a little harsh lord Hokage? I mean, they are still children," Kurenai reasoned.

"No. They gave up their childhood the moment they accepted the symbol of the hidden leaf. If they wish to act like children, they have clearly chosen the wrong profession. This is a warning to the rest of you as well; you will train your genin teams properly from this moment onwards, I will not condemn such young shinobi to death because of your own soft heartedness," Sarutobi said with narrowed eyes.

All of the present jonin were taken aback by that announcement, except for Kakashi since he had already had a long discussion with the Hokage the previous day. Most were shocked that the normally kind hearted Hokage had suddenly become so cold and calculated, even to the point of robbing genin of their childhood. Asuma had a feeling of déjà vu as he realised that this was much the same way his father acted during the third shinobi war.

"I hope you all understand and take my warning seriously. For now, you are all dismissed. Teams will begin taking missions a week from now due to some complications with team seven; I suggest you use this time to start training them" the Hokage said calmly.

"Not so fast, Hiruzen" a croaking voice said from the corner of the office.

Everyone turned to look at Hiruzen's old genin teammates and elders of the council, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado. Koharu, an elderly woman, walked up to the Hokage's desk, Homura following close behind her. They both stopped in front of their old teammate and Koharu pulled a sizable file out from under her robes.

"I believe that you have some explaining to do in regards to that boy you placed in the Uzumaki family. I don't understand how you thought you could hide something like that monster within this village, but I will not stand for it," the woman said sternly.

"Elder Koharu, what are you talking about?" Kurenai asked gently.

"That child, Izo Uzumaki, is a former lab experiment of the traitorous Orochimaru. This file contains information on the boy that was salvaged from the laboratory he was found in, and let me assure you, it is not comforting," the elder explained.

"So, you found out about Izo? But what makes you think I need to explain anything, the boy has already proven himself to be loyal to the village in his caring for Naruto" Hiruzen said calmly.

"You old fool. This boy cannot be trusted, and from what this file says, I suggest that he be taken and trained as a weapon. You may have stopped us from using the jinchuuriki, but this creature has no right to be allowed to freely roam this village," Homura stated coldly.

Sarutobi chuckled lightly as he took another puff from his pipe. "Am I to assume that the information of what Izo is will be known to the public shortly?" he asked, receiving a nod from his teammates.

"That's right, Hiruzen. The people have a right to know what that boy is should he be free to walk the streets" Koharu replied.

"Oh dear, such trouble you have caused me, how ever will I cope with it all" Hiruzen said sarcastically. "I suppose there is no point in hiding Naruto's secret either, he is only going to be targeted as Izo's brother. Therefore, effective immediately, the law I passed regarding the Kyuubi jinchuuriki is nullified. Go and tell whoever you like," he said cheerfully.

"What game are you playing here Hiruzen? Have you finally gone senile?" Homura asked worriedly.

In all honesty, Koharu and Homura were not planning on making all of the information known to the public; there were certain things that should remain under wraps. But this was not the reaction they had expected from the Hokage. They were hoping to simply use this new found information to manipulate him, to turn him to their way of thinking. That plan was now shot to hell.

"I assure you that I have not gone senile. But I will say this; should anyone, shinobi or civilian, make any move to harm either Naruto or Izo after this information is revealed, I will crush them. Those boys are loyal shinobi of the leaf and I will not stand for people who would condemn them for things out of their control. So keep that in mind when you go preaching about the 'demon' and 'monster' brothers, because I will slaughter anyone that dares to attack a fellow shinobi of Konoha," Sarutobi said sternly, putting pressure on the room's occupants with his chakra.

"Now get out, before I change my mind," he said quickly, emptying the room faster than the Yondaime Hokage could move.

"I see your teammates fell for it," Danzō said casually as he emerged from the shadows.

Hiruzen smirked victoriously. "Indeed they did. It seems we will finally be able to begin to initiate our plans, once the team returns from their diplomatic mission that is," he said with a relaxed sigh.

"How much information did you reveal to them?" the crippled elder asked.

"Not much, but just enough to make people see Izo as a monster" the Hokage replied.

"When do you plan on making Naruto's identity known?" the war hawk asked curiously.

"As soon as the village is so sure that the boys are monsters. The very moment that it will crush them all the most and shatter the beliefs they are so sure of, the beliefs born from hatred and lies," Sarutobi said with an almost evil gleam in his eye.

"And when the leaves of the village are at their weakest, the roots will come forth to cleanse the rot" Danzō stated stoically.

"And you ruined the moment by going all biblical" Hiruzen muttered.

Danzō glared at his rival. "Still such a child. Even after being so serious in front of your shinobi, you can't help but reduce yourself to immaturity," he said coldly.

"Whatever. So, did you manage to contact our friend?" the Hokage asked curiously.

"I did. It wasn't easy, that man never stays in one place for very long and is quite skilled in hiding himself" the elder replied.

"So what did he say?" Hiruzen asked.

"Why not ask him yourself," Danzō said as he turned to the middle of the office.

Both elderly men watched as a large mirror formed itself out of water and hovered in the centre of the room. It rippled slightly as a figure appeared within it. It was a very young looking man with short grey hair and pink pupil-less eyes, a large stitch styled scar running down from his left eye to his chin. He appeared to be wearing a dark green poncho and held a hook ended staff with a large flower at its end.

"Hello, Hokage-Dono" the man greeted politely.

"Hello to you too, Mizukage-Dono, or should I just call you Yagura?" Sarutobi asked with a kind smile.

"Just Yagura will be fine," the former Mizukage said politely. "I have information in regards to Kirigakure," he said.

"Oh really? Please, by all means, do tell" Hiruzen said, resting his chin on his hands.

"Very well" Yagura began. "The jinchuuriki of the Rokubi has returned to the village, and I believe that he will be attending the upcoming chunin exams," he explained.

The Hokage frowned at that. _'I fear that these upcoming chunin exams will have more than just jinchuuriki as a surprise' _he thought worriedly as he continued to listen to Yagura's other reports.

So long as there wasn't some Bijuu death match in the middle of Konoha then the exams would go as planned.

* * *

><p>"The meeting is being held inside <em>that<em>?" Naruto asked with wide eyes.

"Yes it is. This is the military outpost that Iwa created in grass country. It was the only one that has never been raided since the third shinobi war, mainly due to the fact that no one is game enough to risk getting caught in it should it turn out to be one giant death trap" Kana explained.

Everyone was standing on the cliff face edge of one of grass countries larger ravines, looking straight at the literal fortress suspended between either side of the ravine. It was a large cylindrical, tower like structure with two sturdy stone bridges extending from its middle and connecting to each side of the ravine; it also seemed that the bridges were the only things holding up the entire structure.

"I can sense large clusters of explosives on each of the bridges. They weren't recently set, so I think it's safe to assume that they are old, probably back from the third war when they planned ahead of a raid from Konoha," Izo said casually.

"How much explosives?" Kana asked curiously.

"I'm not sure on the exact amount or even how powerful they are, but it's safe to assume that it's more than enough to blow the bridges. If we're in there and they go off, we will not be getting out alive. The entire structure has been built for the purpose of a trap; as soon as that thing hits the ground, it will implode on itself, crushing us inside" he explained.

"Damn, Iwa really went all out with this thing. And to think, they want to hold a diplomacy meeting here of all places" Anko said in surprise.

"Can you sense anyone inside, Izo?" Kana questioned.

"Yeah, two people, but something isn't right about it. There were at least three other chakra's in there before we got here, but they're gone now. You picking up anything strange bro?" Izo asked Naruto.

"We're too far away for me to get a proper reading on things, but I can definitely feel that one of the people in there is hostile. They're leaking out hatred like you wouldn't believe. The other one though, they seem to be more afraid than anything else" the blonde replied.

"Hmm, sounds like a hostage trap. But that doesn't make much sense given the circumstances" Kana said thoughtfully.

"Does this mean we're abandoning the mission?" Anko asked sadly.

"No, it just means we are gunna have to use a little more tact, and perhaps a decoy scout" Izo answered.

"I hope you aren't suggesting what I think you're suggesting" Kana said dangerously.

"You're damn right I'm suggesting that. It is obviously the safest way to go about this mission, if we don't want to all die a horrible death at the bottom of this ravine that is" the ash haired boy exclaimed.

"Uh, what is he talking about?" Anko asked Kana.

"He plans to be a complete idiot, so it's probably best to just go along with it for now," the older woman said tiredly. "It really isn't worth the argument to go against him"

"Aww, thanks for agreeing with me mom," Izo said happily.

"I am not agreeing with you. I am simply not going to argue with you" she replied.

"You are the weirdest family I've ever met" the snake mistress said blandly.

"You have no idea," Naruto drawled.

"Alright then, I'm off!" Izo exclaimed gleefully as he ran towards the bridge.

"We're just gunna let him go in alone?" Anko asked in disbelief.

"Yep" Naruto and Kana said in unison.

_'Lord Hokage sent me on a mission with a bunch of loony's' _the snake user thought to herself as she watched her remaining teammates sit down on the grass lazily. She soon followed their example, but that didn't help to ease her curiosity. Anko just hoped that the mission went well, because the price for failing a field exam mission as a candidate was usually…death.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't forget to leave a review.<strong>


	9. The Tower Falls

**A/N:**

Well guys, here's the new chapter, i hope you enjoy. Updating from here on out might be a little slower than normal since i'm going back to TAFE for the year. Hopefully i can maintain the same updating speed but i'm not making promises.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions, please review or PM them. I take everything into consideration and try to answer any questions that aren't going to be answered later on in the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but i wish i did simply so i could kill Sakura off.

* * *

><p>Izo hummed a random tune as he casually strolled through the halls of the Iwa base. It wasn't nearly as impressive on the inside as it had been from the outside, with nothing but bleak hallways and empty rooms. Most of the tower was built in a maze like fashion, probably to slow down anyone trying to escape should the explosives be triggered, but luckily Izo didn't rely on his sight to get around.<p>

The tower had been built with such excessive amounts of chakra that it practically mapped itself out for Izo, and he knew exactly where he was going. The only people who would be more useful on this mission would be the Hyuuga, but ROOT had very few of those in its ranks and they were all branch members of the clan. The main house of the Hyuuga clan were not the kind to so easily overlook one of their own going missing.

Eventually, Izo found himself walking into a large, well lit room with a good sized table at its centre. At the table sat a young girl, probably a year younger than him, with an unreadable expression and the posture of a royal. Izo paused in his step when the girl smiled nervously at him. _'This must be the one Naruto said was afraid' _he thought as he took a few sniffs of the air.

Izo had to admit, the girl was definitely what he would classify as cute, and he suspected that she would become quite a looker in a few years. She had short black hair and pink eyes; she was wearing a red uniform with the right sleeve missing and a lapel over her right leg, fishnet tights, and a skirt. Aside from the missing brown flak jacket, it was standard Iwa shinobi attire.

The girl continued to smile nervously at him as he walked up to the table and sat down opposite her. "Hello, are you the diplomat from Konoha?" she asked politely.

Izo stared at her blankly, not that she could tell due to his mask. He knew she was nervous, that much was obvious, but her words were forced and borderline shaky. The girl herself hadn't moved an inch since he had entered the room and that was call for concern. Normally, nervous people were twitchy or shaky, but this girl's body was the epitome of stillness.

"I suppose I am. What's your name?" he asked calmly, observing the girl intently.

"I am Kurotsuchi, granddaughter of the Tsuchikage" she replied confidently.

"And where are your teammates Kurotsuchi-Chan?" Izo asked casually, making sure to add the suffix to gauge her reaction.

Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes at him, but that was all the reaction he got. "Do not refer to me as Chan. And it is polite to introduce yourself as well" she said sternly.

"Hmm, I guess it is, isn't it. Well then, in that case, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Izo Uzumaki, don't worry if you don't know me, I'm sure we can get better acquainted at a later date" he said dramatically, bowing low to the girl. "But I still want to know where your teammates are" he said seriously, standing back up straight.

"I don't need teammates. I am fully capable of taking you down should you try to cause any trouble," she said with forced confidence.

"Very well my dear, I'll take your word on it. But are you confident in your ability to take both me and my teammates down by yourself?" Izo asked, returning to his seat.

"If I am required to," Kurotsuchi answered nervously.

"You really shouldn't lie to a sensor, it never ends well," he said casually.

"A sensor?" she asked nervously.

"That's right, a sensor, and a damn good one if I do say so myself. I can sense you, the three dead bodies in the next room, who I assume were your teammates, the explosives set around this room, and that guy hiding behind a weak genjutsu with a knife at your throat, hell, I can even sense that paralysis seal stuck to your back" Izo listed off calmly.

Kurotsuchi stared at him with wide eyes as the aforementioned man released the genjutsu, revealing himself to Izo with a sickening smirk on his lips. "So you noticed me, eh brat? Well that's too bad, now I'll have to make sure you really don't get out of here alive," the man said with a dark chuckle.

He was rather plain in terms of appearance, having brown eyes and brown hair, lacking anything defining or unique. He was dressed in simply black pants and a dull white shirt. Other than the knife he held, he didn't have any other weapons, not that Izo felt that it would help if he did. The more surprising thing was that the man had very small chakra reserves, to the point that his ability to use a proper jutsu was questionable.

"Shame on you sir! How dare you take such a beautiful girl hostage, tis a crime I tell ye!" Izo yelled indignantly.

The man and Kurotsuchi stared at him in confusion. "Are you…you know, feeling ok?" the girl asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. But do you wanna know what's not fine? The fact that that man is from your own village. Oh the horror!" he exclaimed, gripping his chest in mock shock.

* * *

><p>Kana, Naruto, and Anko were all listening in through their earpieces, the latter of the three doing so with wide eyes.<p>

"Is he mad? Does he not realise that his actions have the potential to start a war between our villages?" Anko asked worriedly.

"Oh don't worry, he is fully aware of that, he simply doesn't care" Naruto answered.

"He doesn't care? Why doesn't he care? More importantly, why the hell did we allow him to go in alone?" the snake user asked frantically.

"We allowed him to go in alone because out of all of us, he is the most likely to survive should that tower fall" Kana replied calmly.

"As for why he doesn't care, well let's just say that he doesn't view fighting the same way we do. To him, a war is nothing more than a large scale game of death tag. Trust me when I tell you that he can get pretty scary when playing that game," the blonde explained.

"So he's insane?" Anko asked bluntly.

"I thought you would understand him a little better considering the fact that you both have a history with a certain snake," Kana said casually.

Anko absentmindedly raised her right hand to her neck, flinching slightly as she rubbed the curse seal that was permanently marked on her. "I don't like to talk about that. Even with others like me" she said quietly.

"You probably should talk to him. If you're really nice, he might even be able to do something about that seal on your neck," Naruto suggested offhandedly.

The purple haired woman's head snapped towards the blonde so fast it probably hurt. "He could remove it?" she asked hopefully.

Naruto shook his head. "No, he doesn't specialize in removing seals. But there isn't a seal he's found that he can't modify and mutilate to his own needs. He even did several modifications to my own seal and that thing is powerful enough to hold the Kyuubi" he replied.

"Is it worth it?" she asked curiously.

The blonde shrugged. "It depends on the seal really. Let him take a look at it sometime and he'll tell you what he's able to do with it; but I should warn you, Orochimaru's curse seals were designed with servitude in mind, so any changes might not be to your liking" he explained calmly.

Kana interrupted their discussion with a groan as she stood up. "Izo is joking around too much. Come on, let's go and see if we can salvage the situation," she said as she began walking to the bridge.

"Wait, what about if the tower falls?" Anko asked.

"Naruto" the black haired woman said simply.

Naruto nodded and pulled out an elongated kunai with a red sealing tag wrapped around its handle. He threw it a few feet in front of him and disappeared in a red flash, reappearing several feet away with the kunai in hand before stabbing it into the ground. He stood up and grinned at Kana, giving her a thumbs up.

"Escape exit set," he said cheerfully.

"Good, let's go" she replied.

Anko stood frozen in place for a few moments, her eyes wide in shock as she gaped at the blonde boy. "That…that was the Yondaime's technique," she stammered out, pointing accusingly at Naruto.

The jinchuuriki shrugged carelessly as he continued to walk behind Kana. Anko remained frozen for a little while longer before snapping out of her shock and running after her teammates. _'I am going to need a few drinks after this mission' _she muttered mentally.

* * *

><p>"…and that is why the dingo is clearly the superior canine species!" Izo exclaimed loudly.<p>

"Are you done yet?" the man asked dryly.

Izo paused in his dramatics and stood up from his kneeling position, dusting himself off lightly before clearing his throat. "Yes, now I'm done" he said simply, sitting back down.

During this time, Kurotsuchi decided to give up all hope of being rescued from her situation. If the rest of this guy's team were as insane as he was, then they would be next to useless against her captor. She still felt ashamed for being so easily taken down by the man, even more so now that she knew for certain that her team was dead. The girl was interrupted in her thoughts by the large knife the man was holding pressing itself uncomfortably close to her skin.

"How did you know I was from Iwa?" the man asked with narrowed eyes, slowly dragging the blade over Kurotsuchi's neck in a shaving like manner.

"Honestly? I didn't. It was just a lucky guess," Izo answered cheerfully.

_'Yep, I am definitely going to die' _Kurotsuchi thought to herself.

The man laughed lightly at Izo's answer. "What kind of ninja bases things like that on a guess?" he asked mockingly.

"One of a kind!" the boy exclaimed proudly.

"Oh well, not that it matters. By the time your team gets here, you'll be dead, and this pretty little thing will go missing mysteriously. When Iwa finds the bodies of her teammates and the blood of a Konoha shinobi, all hell will break loose and any hopes of peace between our villages will be shattered," the man explained with a smirk.

"Hmm, and how might I ask, do you intend to kill me? Not to sound cocky, but I am somewhat skilled" Izo said in a bored tone.

The man's smirk widened, almost into a vicious grin. "For such a skilled sensor, you really suck at sensing proper genjutsu," he said darkly.

Izo didn't even have time to react as a knife was plunged deeply into his neck, the image of the man behind Kurotsuchi shimmering slightly before vanishing completely. "I'll never forgive the hidden leaf for what they did in the war. Not after your Yondaime Hokage slaughtered so many of us," the man growled quietly from behind him.

Kurotsuchi watched as the masked boy collapsed forward onto the table, his blood pouring over and off of the smooth marble surface. She detested herself for admitting it, but that boy was her only real chance of escaping her captor, even if he was from Konoha. She couldn't really blame the man for interfering with the meeting; she too didn't like the idea of offering peace between Iwa and Konoha. But peace was not the purpose of this meeting, and she wished that her captor could realise that.

The mission was so simple it could have been given to a genin team. They were to show up here, play politics for a little while, identify the jinchuuriki that Konoha were requested to send along, then use the towers self-destruct to hold the other Uzumaki's hostage until they were long gone with the Kyuubi container. That plan was now long since destroyed, since her team was dead, she wouldn't have a hope in hell of figuring out who the jinchuuriki was on her own, and someone from her own village had decided to start a war because of a grudge.

"What a weakling. Figures Konoha would be pompous enough to only regard Iwa as a minor threat. They should know better than to insult the likes of the hidden stone," the man proclaimed angrily.

"That wasn't very nice," Izo said childishly, sitting himself back up in his chair, completely disregarding the knife and his own blood.

The man took several steps back from the boy, his eyes wide in surprise. "How the hell are you still alive?" he shouted.

Izo looked down at the blood covered table before reaching up and grabbing the knife still stuck in his neck. With a sharp tug, he ripped it from his throat, his blood pouring out profusely as he held the weapon out towards the horrified man. "I think you dropped this," he said casually.

Kurotsuchi and her captor watched in barely contained horror as the boy's blood began turning ash white. Soon enough Izo's hand begun to turn the same colour, followed quickly by his entire body, clothes and all. He started to crack and crumble as if he was a deteriorating statue, until his right arm simply snapped off at the elbow, falling to the floor and bursting into a pile of ash.

"What…what the hell is going on?" the man asked shakily, staring wide eyed at the disintegrating boy.

"You know, for someone who uses genjutsu, you aren't all that good at noticing one" Izo stated calmly as he walked into the room.

The entire room began to warp slightly before everything fazed back into reality. Kurotsuchi was still sitting frozen in her chair, and the pile of ash had vanished; actually, that entire side of the table was completely undisturbed, as if Izo hadn't even been in the room to begin with. The most notable change was that the man now standing off to the side, drenched in blood.

Without a second thought, the man put his hands into a single seal. "Release!" he exclaimed.

The world once again warped before fazing back to reality. Kurotsuchi was still sitting in her chair, something that was quickly beginning to irritate her, the man was once again standing behind her with his knife at her throat, and Izo was yet again sitting on the other side of the table with a small cup of tea. Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes. _'Figures he'd be a skilled lunatic' _she thought dryly.

"Such a shame that you broke that one. I had such marvellous adventures planned, in a world all our own" Izo said sadly, taking a sip of his tea.

"Where the hell did you get tea?" the man asked in confusion.

"Why from the coffee machine of course" the boy replied cheerfully.

"This is another genjutsu, isn't it?" He asked bluntly.

"Oh wow, you're getting so smart aren't you? I'll tell ya what, you get a gold star for effort. Keep up the good work and you'll get a cookie!" Izo exclaimed happily, giving the man a thumbs up.

The man growled. "I'll kill you brat!" he yelled, breaking the genjutsu and charging forward.

Izo sighed in disappointment as his cup of tea disappeared and reality took over. He quickly extended his right arm towards the charging man, taking a brief moment of satisfaction when he found himself crushed down against the table by an invisible force. The masked boy stood from his chair and calmly placed his left hand on the man's head; not moments later, the man's struggling was halted.

"What did you do to me?" the man asked fearfully as he found all of his energy leaving him along with most of his chakra.

"You have a pitiful amount of chakra. I'm amazed you managed to kill Kuro-Chan's teammates, but you probably had the element of surprise with them," Izo said in disappointment, removing his hand from the man's head.

Kurotsuchi glared at Izo, a low growl escaping her lips. "Kuro-Chan?" she asked dangerously. She didn't like it when he referred to her as Chan and she sure as hell wasn't any happier about him shortening her name as if they were best of friends. It was simply too embarrassing and it needed to be stopped immediately.

"Yes, Kuro-Chan. That's what I'm gunna call you from now on, and no you cannot convince me otherwise no matter how good looking you are" Izo replied, grinning at the girl.

"I will have you killed for this," she said irritably.

"I'm sure you will, but could you maybe hold that off until after our first date? I'd like to at least have a decent chance to get to know you first" he said casually.

The girl stared at him with a deadpan expression. "You do realise that we are enemies, don't you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure do! But you know what they say, forbidden love is always worth it in the end!" he exclaimed with a hint of perverseness.

"I got taken down by a moron," the still incapacitated man groaned depressingly.

Izo turned back to where the man was still being crushed against the table, the invisible force being strong enough to crack the marble surface beneath him. "You're still alive? Your ribs should be crushed by now!" the boy exclaimed in surprise.

"Ha, like you could crush me. We're built tougher in Iwa, not like your pansy Konoha comrades" the man spat hatefully, straining himself to breath under the crushing pressure.

"Well then, I'll have to remedy that, now won't I" Izo said irritably.

Izo extended his right arm towards the man again, and clenched his fist. The man's would be screams were caught in his throat as bloodied gurgles as his rib cage collapsed under the pressure, the marble table cracking in a spider web pattern around him. Kurotsuchi's eyes widened at the power the boy had so effortlessly displayed, his brutality striking a small amount of fear into her.

She wasn't ignorant to the reality of being a kunoichi, and she was more than aware that the job entailed being surrounded by death, but this boy was on a whole different level than her. He had not only effortlessly slaughtered a man that had killed three chunin level ninja and captured her, but he had toyed with the man first. He had played around with him as if it were a game, and that made her worry for her own safety.

Kurotsuchi knew that in her current position, there was literally nothing she could do to stop him should he decide to do anything…unpleasant. If his earlier comments on her looks were anything to go by, then it was safe to assume that he found her appealing, and that was more than enough reason for her to panic. Every kunoichi knew the harsh reality of the world, the risk they were all taking, but it didn't make her feel any less nervous.

Izo nodded to himself at a job well done before turning on his heels and walking up to Kurotsuchi. He casually waved at her and sat himself on the table directly in front of her. "Well, Kuro-Chan, I think it's time for you to do something for me" he said calmly.

"What kind of thing?" she asked nervously.

The masked boy pointed at the partially crushed man's body. "I want you to tell me if you know him, and then I'll have you answer some other questions," he answered.

"Yes, I know him. He was a member of the explosion corps in Iwagakure. He made explosives for our shinobi, but he didn't have the chakra to actually fight. I'm surprised he could use genjutsu though" Kurotsuchi replied, never easing her intense stare at Izo.

"Ok, good to know; it also explains why he set up explosives around the room. Now, time for some other questions. What was the purpose of this meeting?" he asked seriously.

Kurotsuchi felt a bead of sweat slide down her forehead. She wasn't exactly sure on how to reply to that question; if she lied, he would probably be able to pick it up, but if she told him the truth, she'd rather not think about what he would do. Then again, there was always the off chance that he was crazy enough to let her go, and she already knew that he found her appealing; perhaps she could use that to her advantage.

"It was to try and organise a peace treaty between our villages" she lied with all the confidence she could muster.

Izo's somewhat casual and laid-back demeanour instantly dropped, being replaced by a cold and murderous aura. "I don't like liars Kuro-Chan, and I would hate to have to kill you for something as little as answers. So tell me the truth. What was the real purpose of this meeting, and why did Iwa request all three Uzumaki's to be present?" he asked emotionlessly.

"If I tell you, will you let me go?" she asked nervously.

"I won't make any promises, but it would definitely work in your favour," Izo said simply.

"Fine" she started with a defeated sigh. "We were tasked with identifying and capturing Konoha's jinchuuriki, the other Uzumaki's as well if it was possible. If we couldn't capture any of you, then we were given orders to drop the tower with you all inside" she explained quickly.

"Then why was he so convinced that you were actually here for peace talks? Didn't you try to explain the situation to him?" he asked, gesturing once again to the man's body.

"He made a bold assumption and had already killed my team before we could explain anything to him" the girl replied.

"And how does someone who can't even use jutsu, manage to take down four Iwa shinobi?" Izo asked curiously.

"He…surprised us with some flash bombs and knocked me out. I don't know how he got my teammates and I only woke up shortly before you got here," she admitted shamefully.

"Alright, back to the main subject at hand. What was Iwa planning to do with my little brother if you happened to catch him?" he asked, glaring through his mask.

"We were going to try and brainwash him to serve Iwa, and if that didn't work then we would simply kill him and reseal the Kyuubi into someone else," she answered.

Izo nodded at her answer. It definitely seemed like the kind of thing Iwagakure would do, and they sure as hell weren't above killing a child to get more power. A small smirk tugged at his lips as he stood up from the table, stepping up to Kurotsuchi and lowering his head down next to hers.

"One more question" he began quietly, grinning at her discomfort. "Why are you pretending to be paralysed when that seal on your back isn't even active anymore?" he asked curiously.

Without a moment of hesitation, Kurotsuchi drove her left fist into Izo's stomach, making the boy stumble back in surprise. Jumping to her feet, she quickly delivered a powerful chakra enhanced punch to his face, knocking him back onto the table. She raced through several hand seals and took a deep breath as she glared at Izo.

**"Yōton: Quicklime Congealing jutsu!" **she exclaimed, breathing out a large glob of a corrosive lava like substance.

Izo quickly replaced himself with the body lying on the other side of the table, mentally sighing in relief as he watched the body get engulfed by the quicklime, trapping it onto the table. Rolling himself off of the table and onto his feet, Izo quickly went through some of his own hand seals.

**"Hyōton: Shattering Ice Spear jutsu!" **he said, pushing his right arm out towards the girl.

Kurotsuchi was forced to throw herself to the side, narrowly avoiding the several massive ice spears that tore through the table, shattering the stone chair that was behind her.

**"Yōton: Lava Flow jutsu!" **

The girl was once again forced to throw herself out of harm's way as Izo spewed out a long steady stream of red hot lava, melting the part of the floor she had been on. Kurotsuchi stumbled to her feet and stared at Izo fearfully, wondering just what kind of mess she had gotten herself into.

"How…how can you use two Kekkei Genkai?" she asked shakily.

Izo smirked victoriously. "You would be surprised at what I can do when it comes to Kekkei Genkai. By the way, nice Yōton technique you got there, mind if I use it later on?" he asked casually.

"You expect me to believe that you can just use it without learning it first? You don't have the Sharingan, so I highly doubt that" Kurotsuchi stated smugly.

"Well you got me there; I certainly don't have the Sharingan, thank Kami for that. But I have a rather good understanding of nature type jutsu, especially Kekkei Genkai nature types. Speaking of which, your grandfather, the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Ōnoki the fence sitter, is well known for his Jinton Kekkei Tōta, am I right?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked, her pink eyes still glaring a hole into his head.

"I was merely wondering if you could tell me if I'm doing this right," he said simply.

Before Kurotsuchi could ask, Izo put his hand out in front of him as if holding an invisible ball. A small marble sized sphere of energy appeared between his hands before a small transparent cube of energy expanded from it. Kurotsuchi's eyes widened to comical proportions as she stared at the small cube of energy. _'That's not possible' _she muttered mentally.

Izo thrust his arms forward, launching the cube straight towards Kurotsuchi. The black haired girl reacted quickly, once again racing through hand seals and taking a deep breath.

**"Yōton: Quicklime Flow jutsu!" **she said quickly, spewing out a stream of the corrosive substance.

The cube collided with the quicklime and instantly expanded in size, engulfing the entirety of Kurotsuchi's jutsu within itself and stopping mere millimetres in front of her.

**"Jinton: Atomic Dismantling jutsu!" **Izo exclaimed cheerfully.

The sphere of energy within the expanded cube erupted in a bright flash of light before the cube simply disappeared, along with Kurotsuchi's jutsu and a small section of the floor. Izo steadied himself by putting his hands on his knees, panting slightly in exertion. Using those three jutsu consecutively in such a short time was a terrible idea on his part.

_'I can't go throwing Kekkei Genkai techniques around like that. At this rate, it'll kill me' _he thought tiredly. _'I need to limit myself and stop showing off like this. Nature shifting at this rate is just too damn costly' _

Kurotsuchi continued to stare wide eyed at Izo as she fell to her knees. Her breathing was a little haggard, but other than that, she was fine. She still had plenty of chakra left, but she couldn't use her Yōton anymore, she simply didn't have enough practice with it yet. She couldn't help but stare fearfully at her opponent, as if despite her own confidence, she knew she was going to lose.

_'What the hell is he? He just threw three different Kekkei Genkai at me, and he's only just now starting to feel an effect. The Hyōton should be long since gone, and there is no way he should know the Jinton' _she thought in a slight panic. _'Even if he's tired, I can't counter him with Yōton anymore and I'm screwed if he uses genjutsu'_

Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes at the masked boy. She was a loyal kunoichi of Iwa, and she would be damned if she allowed Konoha to have such a potentially powerful shinobi. Even if he wasn't actually the jinchuuriki that she was assigned to capture, he was still just as much of a threat. _'I won't let him leave here alive' _she swore to herself.

"You know, Kuro-Chan, I really don't want to kill you. So if you'd just do me a favour and surrender, that'd be great" Izo said, his breathing slowly going back to normal.

Kurotsuchi smirked smugly. "Don't worry, you won't have to kill me," she said sweetly, putting her hands together in a single seal. "Because I'm going to kill you" she finished.

Izo felt her quickly flare her chakra, which was followed by two massive explosions that rocked the entire tower. Gravity suddenly lost its effect as the large earth structure began to plummet into the ravine. Izo looked over to Kurotsuchi and saw her drawing in as much earth as she could from around her, forming it into a large cocoon of sorts.

"You bitch!" he yelled angrily.

If he survived this, he was going to kill her.

* * *

><p><em>(Outside the tower- just before the explosions)<em>

"I'm going to kill him!" Kana screamed.

"Calm down. I'm sure he had his reasons," Naruto said unconvincingly. He knew that Izo probably just did it for a joke, but he had to at least try to get his brother off the hook. No one deserved the level of ass kicking that Kana could dish out.

"Does he do this kind of thing often?" Anko asked curiously.

Kana and Naruto sighed. "Yes" they answered in unison.

The three of them were currently standing on the bridge connected to the tower, in front of the large passageway leading into the base. There was but one problem; Izo had sealed the entrance with an earth wall. Normally they would be able to blast it down, but they didn't want to accidentally break the bridge, and none of them were proficient enough with earth nature chakra to take the wall down.

"So what are we going to do?" the snake user asked casually. She personally didn't see a problem with Izo locking them out of the tower. If he wanted to go lone wolf, that was his problem, just so long as he didn't fuck up the mission and get her killed for it.

"We could just wait for him to come back out. I doubt that anyone inside could actually beat him, unless he decides to show off" Naruto suggested.

"Knowing him, he's probably been showing off since the moment he found whoever's in there with him," Kana said, sighing irritably.

"We should get off of the bridge now. We can't get into the tower, and I'd rather not be on this thing should Iwa decide to blow the bridges" the blonde said seriously. He really didn't want to get blown up today, not when he still had to taste test Ichiraku's newest flavour of ramen.

"Yeah, good idea. I don't like the thought of falling to my de…" Anko said before she was cut off by two large explosions that knocked her off her feet.

The bridge beneath them crumbled and collapsed, dropping them into a freefall. Naruto wasted no time in grabbing onto both Kana and a screaming Anko, all three suddenly vanishing in a flash of red and reappearing back where he had placed his kunai. Kana and Naruto landed on their feet while Anko fell on her ass.

"Well, there goes Izo" Naruto said dryly.

"He best hope he dies down there" Kana muttered as she watched the tower fall down into the ravine.

"You guys are really messed up. Isn't he your family?" Anko asked in shock.

Naruto and Kana turned to glare at the purple haired kunoichi from behind their masks. "You don't live with him, you couldn't understand," they said in perfect unison, freaking Anko out quite a bit.

"You two are creepy," the snake mistress muttered under breath.

"And you scream like a bitch" Naruto replied casually, making her blush in embarrassment.

"I already miss Izo," she grumbled sadly.

"Don't worry, he won't die…hopefully" Kana assured her. "For now, let's start heading down there. Izo might survive, but I doubt he'll be able to get back up here by himself," she said before she walked to the cliffs edge and began walking straight down the vertical cliff face.

Naruto followed quickly after her, leaving a still slightly shaken Anko on her own. Her fear of falling to her death was a very well-kept secret, and now two more people probably knew about it. _'Maybe I can just kill them and tell Izo they died in the explosion' _she thought.

She shook her head of that thought. They were high ranking member of FALL; chances were they could kill her without breaking a sweat. Anko hesitantly walked to the cliffs edge, taking a deep breath to calm herself, she began to slowly walk down the cliff face.

"I do not scream like a bitch," she growled in embarrassment, blushing lightly as she walked after Izo and Kana.

* * *

><p>Izo groaned as he collapsed onto the massive pile of rubble beneath him, the only remnants of the tower that had practically been dropped on his head. His visible skin was a dark earthy colour, and a good amount of his clothes were ripped and torn. His skin quickly returned to its more pale colouring as he relaxed himself.<p>

"Fuck that hurt," he muttered tiredly.

A low rumbling sound caught his attention and he turned to see a section of the rubble get pushed apart, revealing a somehow still alive Kurotsuchi. She didn't look to be in the best shape, what with an apparently dislocated shoulder and a trickle of blood coming from her mouth; but she was still alive, and she didn't look too happy to see Izo.

Izo forced himself to his feet, stumbling slightly. His ANBU mask had unfortunately been a casualty of the fall, meaning that Kurotsuchi now knew what he looked like, for the most part anyway. In reality, it didn't matter if she knew his appearance since she already knew his name, but it was more about the concept than the effectiveness when it came to ANBU masks.

"How are you still alive?" the injured girl asked angrily.

"I could ask the same of you" Izo replied.

Kurotsuchi sneered at him. "It doesn't matter. You're weak now, so I'll just kill you and be done with it," she growled.

Izo sighed exhaustedly. _'This girl is one tough cookie, I'll give her that much' _he thought to himself as he dropped into a lazy taijutsu stance, Kurotsuchi quickly doing the same.

_'I wonder if she's single'_

* * *

><p><strong>Don't forget to leave a review.<strong>


	10. Very Important Prisoner

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but i do own my OC and any original jutsu i decide to create.

* * *

><p>Izo waited patiently for Kurotsuchi to charge at him, probably in some form of female fury that many regarded as highly dangerous. He could understand her hesitance though; having a dislocated shoulder was a definite handicap in a fight with someone whom you didn't know what was capable of. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for his opponent, Izo couldn't simply charge at her either. As it was, both of them had used too much chakra just to survive the fall, and both of them were suffering with the effects of that.<p>

Kurotsuchi was noticeably having trouble breathing, more than likely due to some internal injury she had sustained in the fall; that would also have explained the small amount of blood that had dribbled down her chin. Her arm being dislocated was also glaringly obvious, as was the drastic drop in her chakra reserves. In her current condition, Izo estimated that she would put up about as much of a fight as Sakura. Then again, the Iwa kunoichi might manage to pull of some miraculous stunt and get the drop on him.

Izo winced slightly and gripped his left arm tightly to stop it from twitching. This did nothing to stop his arms from shaking slightly as he tried to calm himself down; Kurotsuchi smirking at his apparent discomfort was not helping him in this ordeal. He grit his teeth as the burning sensation worked its way down his arm before pulsing back up into his chest. This was not something he felt like dealing with at this particular time and he really didn't want to just kill Kurotsuchi; he was still hoping that the situation could be salvaged…somehow.

"What's the matter, nervous?" the girl asked smugly. She tried not to show it, but she was desperately hoping that he had exhausted himself trying to survive the fall. Kurotsuchi knew that she wouldn't be able to fight someone on his level in the way she was, not unless he was more injured than she was.

"Nervous? Hah! Very funny Kuro-Chan. No, I'm not nervous, but I am having a little bit more trouble than I expected. You really surprised me when you set off the explosives; didn't take you for the suicidal type" Izo chuckled. "Then again, I didn't expect you to answer my questions so honestly either, considering that the paralysis seal had worn off shortly after I entered that room. Why exactly did you give away so much information, if you don't mind me asking?"

Kurotsuchi glared at him. "I might be loyal to my village, and I might agree that having another Bijuu in our possession would be best…but I will not condone the torture, brainwashing, or death of a child just so my village can win a pissing contest. It was the Iwa council that wanted your jinchuuriki, and the only reason my grandfather agreed to it was to shut them up. He didn't account for the fact that the Hokage would actually send the jinchuuriki," she explained angrily.

Izo quirked an eyebrow. "Why are you angry at us? You just said that it was all a scheme to get your hands on another jinchuuriki. If anything, I should be angry at you for planning to kidnap my brother," the blindfolded boy said irritably.

"I'm angry because you idiots actually sent your damn jinchuuriki here, even when you had more than enough reasons to think it was a trap. What the hell was the Hokage thinking? Had you just sent some grunts instead, we could have easily disregarded our mission entirely and run off with no war scale repercussions. But ohhh no, you guys had to be idiots. And now I'm stuck here fighting a freak of nature in hopes that I can still complete part of my mission" Kurotsuchi ranted loudly.

"Hey, I am not a freak of nature. I started off as a clone before slowly climbing the ladder out of the realm of normal. I do not even exist in natures schematics!" Izo exclaimed childishly before bursting into a maniacal cackle.

Kurotsuchi took a step back from the boy with a concerned expression. She had been noticing that his arms had progressively been twitching more and more as they talked, but his mad cackle and the disturbingly vicious grin that had suddenly plastered itself on his face was unnerving her more than anything else had.

"Are you ok?" she asked apprehensively.

"Ahahahahehehe! Nope, but that's even better!" he yelled madly before looking at her and tilting his head curiously. "You tried to kill me" he said darkly, his voice sounding much deeper and more menacing than his earlier high pitched mad scientist like tone.

An evil and ominous aura started to surround Izo as his fingers started to twitch uncontrollably. Kurotsuchi felt sick, the boy's presence was unlike anything she had felt before. She had experienced killing intent from her grandfather, and although that had scared her shitless, it wasn't in any way similar to this. Izo's mere presence, not even his killing intent, just his presence, was making her want to throw up until she died. It was a disgusting and sickening sensation that sent an uncomfortable chill down her spine.

She chuckled nervously as she stepped further away from the clearly insane boy. "It's ok, I'll just leave now," she said quickly.

"No, I think not" Izo said sharply as his chakra spiked to terrifying levels, the ground around him cracking slightly under the sudden pressure and the temperature dropping several degrees.

Kurotsuchi watched with wide fearful eyes as a long kunai flew down from seemingly nowhere and embedded itself directly in front of Izo. In a flash of red, a new and far more powerful presence simply appeared out of thin air and collided with the blindfolded boy. Izo was thrown back several feet before another flash of red appeared above him in mid-air and forced him into the ground. The older boys sickening presence disappeared quickly after that, but it was merely replaced by an even more overwhelming aura of pure anger and malice.

Naruto sighed as he stood up from a now unconscious Izo, a paper sealing tag stuck to the older boy's forehead. "You really shouldn't show off, you idiot" he mumbled irritably. He shook his head and took a deep breath, calming himself and drawing the Kyuubi's chakra back within himself, his crimson red eyes fading back to blue. It wouldn't bode well if he became a beacon for potential enemies in the area, and with Izo now out for a few hours they had lost a very large portion of their fighting power.

The masked blonde turned around and saw that Kurotsuchi was still standing where she had been, not moving a single muscle as she stared at him worryingly. A small smirk tugged at his lips from behind the fox styled ANBU mask; it was always somewhat amusing that the Kyuubi's chakra made people react that way, even when it was being completely filtered through his own reserves. No matter how hard he tried, the malicious nature of the Bijuu's chakra could never be taken away from the power. On the bright side, it didn't corrupt him in any way until he hit three tails, which was a definite plus in his books.

Unfortunately, the girl had tried to kill Izo, or at least that's what Naruto assumed since she was the only one still alive aside from the older boy. Then there was also the fact that she had not only witnessed him use the Hiraishin, even if it wasn't yellow, but also most likely now knew that he was the jinchuuriki. It was foolish to think she wouldn't be able to put the pieces together and come to an unsettling conclusion that had the potential to start a war between the villages. These facts, sadly, meant that Naruto would probably have to kill her to keep her silent.

Kana and Anko quickly landed next to him, the latter of the two moving to check on Izo much to the still conscious Uzumaki's confusion. The eldest of the group decided to overlook the action for the meantime, making a point to bring it back up for possible blackmail material at a later date. She turned to stare blankly at Kurotsuchi before turning questioningly to Naruto who had one of his Hiraishin kunai gripped in his hand, obviously ready for the girl to make a run for it.

"Did she see it?" Kana asked seriously.

Naruto nodded. "She saw, and she also knows what I am. Considering that Izo's mask isn't on him, I'd think it's safe to say she would be able to point him out to Iwa; I'm fairly certain that he was showing off too, so leaving her with that information would not be advisable" he explained emotionlessly.

The oldest Uzumaki nodded in understanding, not at all confused by the way that Naruto was talking. It was actually much safer for him to act and speak emotionlessly while working as a ROOT member since it was such the polar opposite of his normal persona; it would be much harder to try and connect an emotionless ANBU to a hyperactive genin, even with the bright blonde hair. Izo, however, was more or less compromised now, even if the boy didn't care about it, and that was not something that Kana felt comfortable in leaving as was.

She turned back to Kurotsuchi and placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, just in case. "Who are you?" she asked calmly.

Kurotsuchi mentally cursed herself for not running away when she had a chance. She definitely couldn't outrun two perfectly healthy ANBU and a jonin; not to mention the short blonde one had used a technique that was disturbingly similar to the famed Hiraishin. The black haired girl wouldn't go so far as to make bold assumptions from that alone, but it did raise some questions and unnerve her. From what they were saying, she could tell that the blonde was most definitely the jinchuuriki, no doubt about it, and that they were willing to kill her to keep that a secret.

"I'm Kurotsuchi, of the Kamizuru clan, and granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage," she answered honestly. If she was lucky, the Konoha shinobi would think twice about killing her considering who she was.

"Wait, you mean you're Ōnoki's granddaughter? Damn, what are we gunna do now?" Anko said worriedly. She really didn't want this mission to be the end of her and she really doubted that Danzō would give her a second chance. That old cripple was painfully strict when it came to candidates.

"Calm down Anko. Nothing bad is going to happen, isn't that right Kurotsuchi-San?" Naruto said sternly.

Kurotsuchi chuckled nervously. "Yeah, sure. If you guys just let me go I won't hold a grudge"

Kana shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we cannot just let you leave here now that you are aware of which one of us is the jinchuuriki. You will be coming with us, back to Konoha, where the Hokage will decide what will be done with you"

"What! You can't do that!" the Iwa kunoichi exclaimed angrily.

Naruto and Kana instantly drew their swords and fell into their respective Kenjutsu stances. "You will come with us peacefully or we will use force. If you resist, we will be forced to kill you, and that is not something that we would like to do. Hopefully, with you meeting the Hokage, this situation can be salvaged peacefully. After all, peace between our villages would be beneficial," Kana explained, leaving no room for argument.

"This meeting wasn't even about peace! The Iwa council just wanted us to capture the jinchuuriki; peace talks were not something we were even planning on. Taking me with you will do neither of us any good. At most, this will just anger Iwa more and possibly start another war," Kurotsuchi yelled in frustration.

"Surely Ōnoki will be reasonable when it comes to the safety of his granddaughter. I don't think even he will risk a war over a such a trivial matter, especially once Izo wakes up and explains why you're still alive. I don't want to sound too hopeful, but he usually kills anyone and everyone that would drop a tower on his head; therefore, you must have given him good reason to leave you alive, if only by chance" Naruto said dryly.

The girls pink eyes narrowed at the blonde. Izo was far better company than these ones, even though she would never admit it. At least that guy had a personality. But now she was stuck dealing with an emotionless jinchuuriki, whom she wasn't entirely sure how powerful was, and some strict ANBU woman that seemed to be in control of aforementioned jinchuuriki. Kurotsuchi hadn't been able to pick up much from the one named Anko, but the fact that she was on this mission with them obvious said something about her skill.

Kurotsuchi gritted her teeth and glared down at the ground. Her grandfather was going to break his back just screaming at her once he learnt about what happened. It wasn't as if she had much of an option though, and she doubted her chances of getting all the way back to Iwa in her condition. She slowly went to look up at her soon to be captors, only for her eyes to widen slightly. Right there, at their feet, were several of the explosives that that lunatic from the explosions corps had set up around that room. Kurotsuchi couldn't believe her luck.

All she would have to do is flare her chakra slightly and boom, run as fast and far as she could while they were busy picking their pieces up. It was a little brutal to kill them in such a way, and it wouldn't surprise her if the jinchuuriki somehow survived it, but she really didn't want to get dragged to Konoha. Even if she was given back to Iwa as a peace offering, the council would throw a hissy fit over it for months. Ōnoki would not appreciate her causing him even more problems than he already had. Kurotsuchi shivered at the thought of being demoted back to genin; dying was definitely a better option if that was the case.

Before Naruto or Kana could react, Kurotsuchi raised her still useable arm into a half snake seal and flared her chakra to the Iwa standard level set for explosives. She smirked cruelly as she waited for the bombs to do their thing and give her a chance to escape, but after a few seconds of nothing she began to get nervous. She watched with narrowed eyes as the blonde kid leant down and picked up one of the small exploding tags at his feet.

"I hoped you would be above such tactics," he said dryly as the air around the small scrap of paper wavered slightly before turning into a small piece of rubble. "If you try something like that again, we will kill you. Surrender while we're giving you the chance"

Kurotsuchi glared at him defiantly. She was going to make her capture as painful as she could for them, even if she had to reduce herself to being a loud whiny bitch. They would not get out of this without some form of regret and mental torment. She sighed in defeat as she let her arm drop to her side, hanging her head in submission.

Kana nodded as she sheathed her sword and turned to Anko, who had moved Izo into a more comfortable position amongst the rubble. "Anko, you're in charge of the prisoner. Bind her hands and start heading back to Konoha. Should she try anything stupid, stick with a paralysis poison and carry her. Do not cause her any unnecessary harm; we don't need the Tsuchikage throwing a fit" the older woman ordered calmly.

Anko groaned in mild protest as she walked towards Kurotsuchi. She wanted to be the one to carry Izo, if only for the chance of freaking him out once he woke up. Being stuck escorting an Iwa brat was not something she would classify as a good thing. But she would do as she was told though, and she wouldn't dare let her more sadistic tendencies get the better of her when it came to the girl; torturing the granddaughter of a Kage was one sure fire way to get one's head caved in, or worse considering she was kunoichi.

The snake mistress sauntered over to the Iwa kunoichi and carefully went to tie her hands behind her back only to stop suddenly and frown. "I'll need to put your shoulder back into place before we get moving, so I suggest you get ready. This is going to hurt," she said casually.

Kurotsuchi nodded in understanding and clenched her eyes tightly. Anko shrugged and grabbed the girls arm roughly before quickly jarring it back into place eliciting a pained whimper from her. The purple haired woman quickly tied Kurotsuchi's hands behind her back, making sure to tie her fingers together so she couldn't make any hand seals.

"Not bad brat. I've known full grown men that scream like little girls after less pain than that, so you have my respect…for now," Anko said cheerfully. "Do you have enough chakra left to climb back up by yourself, or do I need to carry you?" she asked.

The black haired girl growled quietly. "I'll be fine by myself" she replied through gritted teeth.

"Good girl. Now start moving," Anko ordered, pointing to side of the ravine that they had walked down.

Naruto watched as Anko and Kurotsuchi leapt off towards the cliff face before turning back to Kana. Said woman was staring at Izo curiously and nudging him slightly with her foot. "How long do you think he'll be out this time?" she asked casually.

The blonde shrugged. "No idea. I managed to stick the tag on him before he completely lost it, but I honestly can't time these things anymore. His episodes are getting much easier to trigger though, and I'm not sure how much longer he can keep this up. No doubt the old man will put us on lockdown in terms of ANBU missions, but I suppose that's just one benefit of being a genin," he said tiredly.

Kana giggled quietly. "I guess you're still unhappy about being teamed up with Sasuke," she said in amusement. "Don't worry; I'm sure the Hokage will figure something out. Either that or the council will complain enough to get the teams reassigned. Having a genin team with four genin total is not exactly something that will go down well if you attempt the upcoming chunin exams"

"_If_?" Naruto asked sceptically. "The council will all but demand that the Uchiha participate in the exams to showcase the power of Konoha. Those shrivelled bastards are probably trying to figure out how to get Sasuke trained exclusively by Kakashi-sensei as we speak" the blonde ranted irritably.

"So, what exactly do you think was up with that girl? Izo doesn't leave people alive on a whim," Kana said in concern.

"I…don't know. But knowing Izo, he'll probably say it was just because she was cute, or something along those lines anyway. Either way, it works out for us in the long run; could you imagine the shit storm that her death would cause? At least this way we can use her to make some kind of deal with Iwa, Kami knows we'll need it for when my real identity gets out" the blonde said exhaustedly.

"Do you really think Iwa will react that badly? As you said, surely Ōnoki will be reasonable," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"I said he would be reasonable when it concerned his granddaughter. The son of the yellow flash, who is the equivalent of the Shinigami in Iwa, not so much. It wouldn't surprise me if he came to take my head as a trophy with his own two hands!" the young jinchuuriki exclaimed.

"You're so pessimistic Naru-Chan. Now grab a leg and start dragging" Kana said cheerfully as she reached down and grabbed one of Izo's legs.

"Don't you mean carry?" Naruto asked curiously.

Kana shook her head enthusiastically. "Nope, I meant drag. He deserves it," she said in a disturbingly sweet tone.

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly. Who was he to argue with the woman?

* * *

><p>When Izo woke up, he felt like he had fallen down a ravine inside a stone death trap. <em>'Oh wait, that did happen. When the hell did I black out though?" <em>he thought in confusion.

"Hey dumbass, you awake yet?" Naruto asked a little too loudly for Izo's liking.

Said blindfolded boy groaned in pain. "Naruto, I swear if I have to reteach you how to speak at a normal volume, I will personally drop you into the kunoichi bath house," he drawled.

"Whoa! That sounds like a serious threat there," Anko said with a chuckle.

"It is a serious threat. Remember the incident three years ago?" Kana asked in amusement.

Anko turned to stare at Izo with wide eyes. "That was you!" she yelled disbelievingly.

"Aaagh, stop speaking so loud. If I have to tie you and the blonde brat together in just your underwear, I'll make sure that everyone, and I do mean everyone, gets a free copy of the pictures delivered to their house" Izo threatened as he rolled over and tried to snuggle closer into the dirt.

"Big talk coming from a blind kid" Anko countered with a smirk before she noticed that Naruto was deathly pale. "What's up with you blondie?"

"You have my sympathy Anko," he muttered fearfully.

"Mine as well" Kana added idly.

Anko stared at the two of them curiously. "What the hell are you guys talking about?" she asked.

Neither of the Uzumaki's replied and so the snake user shrugged it off as them trying to play her for a fool or something, but she froze when she turned back to look as Izo. The boy was now sitting up straight and staring at her with a creepy and malicious grin which was only further enhanced by the flickering light of the nearby fire. She was slightly curious about why the kid had seemingly filed his teeth into points, but she couldn't deny the effectiveness of them in the intimidation factor.

"I accept the challenge," Izo said cheerfully, freaking out the purple haired woman even more and confusing her as well.

Izo decided to use this moment of confusion to observe his new surroundings. It seemed that they had long since left the ravine and had started heading back to Konoha; judging from the trees that surrounded them, he guessed that they had at least made it back into fire country. The team was currently in a small clearing with a small fire burning in the centre of it, with him and Anko sitting together on one side, and Naruto and Kana relaxing on the other side. Kurotsuchi was tied to a tree at the edge of the clearing.

"Um, why is Kuro-Chan here?" he asked curiously.

"Hah, told you he thought she was cute!" Naruto exclaimed.

Anko grumbled some choice curses and threw a small roll of ryō to the blonde boy who snatched it out of the air in a much too happy fashion before quickly starting to count it. The snake mistress turned and glared at Izo hatefully. "You owe me, brat," she growled.

"What the hell are you talking about? I only just woke up!" the ash haired boy exclaimed indignantly before pausing suddenly. "Uh…why exactly did I just wake up? Did something happen?"

"You had another episode," Naruto answered blandly.

Izo chuckled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't…hurt Kuro-Chan did I?" he asked hesitantly.

Naruto sighed. "No, you didn't hurt her. I got to you just as you were about to completely lose it and stuck you with one of those sealing tags you made. However, you really need to stop straining yourself like that Izo; showing off or not, we can't afford to constantly keep an eye on you. At least one of us has to stay in control of themselves at all times, and you know damn well that it can't be me, for obvious reasons," the blonde explained.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But at least this time I had an excuse; I mean, the girl did drop several hundred tons of stone down on top of my head" Izo defended.

"Speaking of the girl. Why exactly is she still alive? We found three others amongst the rubble that had been dead for some time, and one other who was crushed to death, probably your handy work if I were to hazard a guess. But you left Kurotsuchi alive, even after she brought the trap down on you. Why?" Kana asked curiously.

"Um, Tsuchikage's granddaughter, duh" the boy replied dumbly.

"Hah, hand the money back blondie!" Anko yelled triumphantly.

"And she's cute" Izo added with a shrug.

Anko's happy expression fell from her face as a small snake slowly slithered out of her long sleeve. Without hesitation, the woman extended her hand out towards Izo, launching the small snake at the boy. She grinned viciously as her deadly little pet did its job, sinking it's small but lethal fangs right into the brats shoulder and pumping more than enough venom into him to render him completely useless. Her grin dropped quickly though once she realised that Izo wasn't even reacting.

Izo calmly reached up and removed the small reptile from his shoulder before staring at its master blankly. "Anko, I do hope you haven't forgotten that I too was in contact with Orochimaru for some time. It would stand to reason that snake venom, no matter what type, has little to no effect on me," he said emotionlessly.

"Tsk, whatever. Just keep in mind that I'm going to get my revenge for this. My money will be avenged" the snake mistress hissed.

"O-kay…can someone explain why Kuro-Chan is here now?" Izo repeated curiously.

"You said it yourself; she's the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage, and a valuable bargaining piece considering how our 'meeting' with Iwa turned out. We're taking her with us back to Konoha to speak with the Hokage. If we're lucky, this mess can be turned in our favour," Kana explained calmly.

"And she's unconscious, why?" the blindfolded boy asked.

Kana shrugged. "She was complaining about being tied to a tree, so I gave Anko the freedom to use a strong sedative on her. The girl is surprisingly stubborn, reminds me a bit of you two" she said casually, gesturing to Naruto and Izo.

"I regret nothing!" Izo exclaimed proudly.

"Don't put me in the same boat as him, it's not fair" Naruto whined pitifully.

"You guys really need counselling" Anko stated bluntly.

All three Uzumaki turned and stared at her blankly from behind their masks and blindfold. "You stay out of this," they said in unison.

Anko huffed and turned her head from her teammates as they all returned to staring at each other, seemingly beginning a three way glaring match between themselves. The staring contest lasted for several minutes, during which Anko considered throwing an exploding tag in the middle of them. The snake user, thankfully, decided against it since she found that she rather enjoyed being among the living, even if she had to deal with a family of idiots. Eventually though, and to Anko's surprise, Naruto simply fell backwards from his seated position and passed out on the ground.

"Dammit!" Izo yelled.

Kana giggled softly. "I guess that means that you have first watch Izo. I'd suggest you work on your genjutsu in your spare time if you ever want to beat me," the older woman said smugly.

"Uh, what just happened?" Anko asked in confusion.

Izo pouted and crossed his arms. "Me and Kana have little genjutsu battles to see who can knock Naruto out first; it's sort of like our own personal scissors, paper, rock type thing. We use it to settle multiple disputes, including and not limited to things like who gets watch duty, who gets to fight the strong opponent, and who gets the last piece of cake" he explained crossly. "Of course I never win, and Naruto doesn't get a say in the matter. Basically it's just me waiting to get bossed around by her"

Anko sniggered. "You're a mummy's boy, no doubt about it," she said amusedly.

"You have no idea" Kana chuckled. "I once managed to get him to make me breakfast every morning for a month before he realised I was just using him. It was so cute!" she squealed.

"You took advantage of me in a moment of weakness. I was still getting used to the way the real world worked and you manipulated me. I will never forgive you for that!" Izo exclaimed childishly.

"Yes you will, you love me too much to hold such a petty grudge" the woman said, waving the blindfolded boy off dismissively.

"I hate you, so very, very much," he muttered irritably.

Izo sighed and stood up, stretching his arms and legs and cracking his neck and back several times, much to the annoyance of Kana and Anko. "Why does it feel like you guys dragged me here?" he asked accusingly.

Kana shrugged, thanking Kami that her ANBU mask hid the disturbingly wide grin plastered on her face. Anko however, was not so well protected, and had her grin on display for all to see. Izo decided not to ask any further questions lest he uncover anything else unfortunate that had befallen him during his…nap. He really didn't want to find out that Naruto and Kana let Anko do anything to him while he was unconscious; he shivered at the idea of that woman getting to close to him. Sure, she was fun to joke around with, but that was where the line was drawn in the sand.

The teen gave a lazy salute to the two women before leaping off into the trees, going as far from the camp as he could. The benefit of being a skilled sensor was that you didn't need to be close to people to keep an eye on them; it made night watch actually somewhat pleasant. No annoying people to interrupt his late night reading. Speaking of which, Izo chuckled quietly as he quickly stopped and lounged himself comfortably in one of the nearby trees. He reached out with his sensing and made sure that he was still in range to keep an eye on things before nodding to himself and pulling out a small orange covered book.

"Ah, Jiraiya. A useless godfather you may be, but a literary genius you most certainly are," he said in content. "But I'm still gunna kick your ass one day" he muttered as he delved into the glorious world of Icha-Icha.

Back at the camp, Anko pulled out a kunai and smirked, preparing to chase after a certain blind brat. There was no way in hell she was going to let him go like that without making him suffer for making her lose that bet with blondie. Just as she was about to go after her next victim, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. Anko turned and glared at Kana who she could just tell was smirking underneath that mask.

"I wouldn't go chasing Izo in the dark Anko. Stealth is not something you want to challenge him in; that, and he would sense you well before you got anywhere close to finding him. Trust me on this, it will only end in your own humiliation," the older woman lectured.

Anko hissed in annoyance. Although she did hold a level of confidence in her own abilities, she wasn't stupid enough to mess with a full-fledged FALL member. Even if the brat was several years her junior, that wasn't necessarily something that worked in her favour. One didn't make it into FALL without some serious skills to back them up; hell, most didn't make it into ROOT without some seriously kick ass skills in at least one shinobi field.

She sighed in resignation. She would leave the brat for now, but as soon as the opportunity presented itself, she would make him wish he was never born, or created, or whatever he was. It was all just a matter of time now.

* * *

><p>Uncomfortable would not even begin to describe how Kurotsuchi felt when she woke up. This was definitely going down in her books as the worst day of her life so far. Her team had been killed, she had been used as a hostage, she dropped a tower on herself, she got captured by Konoha shinobi, she was drugged, and now she was waking up tied to a tree. Yep, today was most certainly the definition of a shitty day.<p>

It really didn't help that the crazy purple haired woman had purposely tied the ropes too tight in certain…areas. She would have to add that one to her kill list later. For now though, she was stuck as their prisoner. When she thought about it, things could have been much, much worse for her. All things considered of course. The team that captured her could have been made up of particularly desperate men to whom her age would mean very little; but that was a worst case scenario. What she had seen of her captors so far wasn't exactly comforting her though.

As far as she could tell, she was stuck with a powerful freak of nature who seemed to have had some form of mental breakdown, an emotionless jinchuuriki who was able to effortlessly overpower aforementioned freak of nature, a sadistic and perverted woman, and some level headed ANBU woman who thankfully seemed to be in charge of the rest of them. Kurotsuchi wasn't sure how long she had been out for, but judging from the smouldering remains of a fire, she'd guess several hours at least.

Looking around, Kurotsuchi was able to spot three of her four captors. She could see the ANBU woman resting against a tree on the other side of the clearing, her sword resting in her lap. She wouldn't put it past the woman to have ridiculous reflexes with that thing, so it would be best to keep an eye on her. Not too far from her was the purple haired pervert, who was sprawled out carelessly next to what remained of the fire. The woman's attire, or rather lack of, made for a rather explicit image due to the way she had sprawled herself out.

The freak of nature, and possibly mentally unstable one, was resting up against a tree much like the ANBU woman, with his own sword, that Kurotsuchi had not seen him with before, resting against the tree next to him. The Iwa kunoichi rolled her eyes at the boy's lack of preparation. The ANBU woman was clearly ready, even while unconscious, for anything. The purple haired woman, although seemingly carefree, was actually just as prepared as the ANBU one, with kunai held loosely in her hands as she slept. The blindfolded boy though, was simply relaxed, as if he felt that he didn't need to be on edge for anything at all.

Kurotsuchi thought that he would have learnt not to be so cocky considering she had almost killed him earlier that day, or at least she hoped she had almost killed him. Considering she had come out of the rubble in far worse shape than he had, it was arguable about how effective the trap was on him. It unnerved her slightly that he was able to shrug off such a fall so easily and still have the energy to have a mental breakdown right in front of her. Perhaps Konoha shinobi were just as insane as some of the stories said they were.

"You want someone to talk to?" Naruto asked emotionlessly from beside her.

Kurotsuchi jumped, or at least tried to; it proved difficult when you were tied to a tree. She glared at the blonde boy with the fox styled mask who had somehow managed to sneak up on her without her noticing. It seemed she would need to invest some more time into her training if she was being caught off guard by kids younger than she was. This one freaked her out more than the perverted woman, and for good reason too. She didn't think she would be able to forget the malicious and oppressive aura that he had exuded when he swatted his teammate down like a fly.

She was no real stranger to the concept of a jinchuuriki or the Bijuu themselves, but she was not prepared for how suffocatingly powerful either of them could be in person. She was somewhat thankful that Iwa's jinchuuriki were kept away from the village, even if it wasn't exactly by their choice. Kurotsuchi took her chance to observe the jinchuuriki, and she wasn't entirely impressed. Although the kid had proven his power by taking down the one she claimed was a freak of nature, he didn't seem to give off any notable vibes of power. If anything, the kid was giving off a calming aura.

"Well?" the blonde questioned again.

The girl glared at him. "So, you're the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi" she commented blandly. "I was expecting someone…more"

Naruto shrugged. "I wasn't expecting you either, considering your practically Iwa royalty" he replied dryly.

Kurotsuchi sneered. "Royalty? Hah, flattery will get you nowhere kid" she growled.

"In case you hadn't noticed, but the crazy purple haired one and my brother are the seduction members of this team. Albeit my brother has a tendency to fail miserably in that field," the jinchuuriki droned tiredly.

A calm but slightly awkward silence swept over the camp once again as Kurotsuchi tried to ignore the blonde that was casually standing next to her. Unfortunately, her curiosity got the better of her and she ended up with several questions running through her mind that all begged to be answered. One question, however, was close to screaming at her and she knew that it was the first thing she had to find out if she could.

"What was it?" she asked quietly.

Naruto turned to look at her lazily. "Do you wanna elaborate on that?" he drawled.

"Before you stopped him, what was that feeling? It wasn't killing intent, but it was similar. It was so…sickening, I felt like I was going to vomit. I've never felt anything like that before" she said hesitantly.

Naruto sighed deeply. "That was his chakra, nothing more, nothing less" he answered simply.

Kurotsuchi's eyes widened slightly. "He's a jinchuuriki as well?" she asked in shock.

The blonde shook his head in amusement. "No, he isn't. But if you ever say that around him, I'm sure he'll thank you for the compliment. As for his chakra, well, that's just how it is. A few years ago it started to gain a sicklier aura to it until he ended up with what you felt today"

Kurotsuchi smirked smugly. "You seem pretty confident in telling me all of this about your dear brother. Aren't you afraid that I'll tell my grandfather and have him hunted down?" she asked threateningly.

"Not really. If he was awake right now, I have no doubt that he would be explaining the same thing to you. I'm certain that you witnessed at least some of his abilities when you were in that tower, so telling you that his chakra feels gross doesn't really make much of a difference now does it" he said casually. "That and I have a feeling that the old man will have certain things erased from your memory concerning all of us. Nothing personal of course, we just can't let you run around telling everyone that Konoha has a shinobi who can throw Kekkei Genkai around as if he was in a food fight"

"Old man?" Kurotsuchi questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto chuckled nervously and scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah, that's what I call the Hokage. It's become a little waiting game to see how long it takes before he finally snaps at me for it"

"And he lets you get away with that?" she asked disbelievingly.

"So far, yes" the blonde answered unsurely.

_'I should probably keep an eye on the old man for a while. I can't help but feel like he will use my official genin status against me as some form of twisted revenge. If he makes me catch that cat he will regret it' _Naruto thought suspiciously.

"You tree huggers are too soft. Even your esteemed leader lets his shinobi get away with too much; it's almost laughable how relaxed your brother is even after I tried to kill him" she muttered.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that, not that she could see it of course. "Would you be willing to attack him if you were free?" he asked curiously.

Kurotsuchi frowned at that. All things considered, she wasn't entirely sure if she would attack him. If he was able to survive the trap then it stood to reason that he could survive whatever she would be able to throw at him in her current state. She wasn't confident in her ability to take on a guy that could snap and go crazy on her at a moment's notice like before, and she highly doubted that the jinchuuriki kid would be willing to stop him again.

"No, I guess not" she replied in a defeated tone.

"Good, cause I really don't want there to be a war between our villages just because one girl decided to get herself killed" the blonde said dryly.

The girl chuckled mirthlessly. "Well aren't you just a big ray of sunshine"

"Using sarcasm is ineffective. I suggest you change tactics, unless you want to talk to Izo again, sarcasm actually works on him sometimes" Naruto said casually.

Kurotsuchi deadpanned at the boy. "You guys are all weirdoes, except for the ANBU woman, she seems at least normal" she said in a dull tone.

Naruto couldn't help but grin behind his mask. This girl was going to regret saying that. "It's good you think that, because she's got next shift. Word of advice, do not try to ignore her, it'll only make her double her efforts" he warned calmly before walking towards the masked woman.

Naruto stopped a few feet in front of Kana and leant down to pick up a small rock. Without even pausing in his movements, the blonde lazily threw the small rock at the masked woman, to which Kurotsuchi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at. A soft clanging noise echoed through the clearing as Kana unsheathed her sword and swatted the stone away with disturbing ease. Kurotsuchi had to give the woman credit; it took quite a lot of dedication to develop those kinds of reflexes, or multiple life or death situation. She wouldn't rule out the latter, but she would definitely keep her eye on the woman.

"Could you not have woken me up in a more appropriate way?" Kana drawled tiredly.

"Nope. It's your shift, and the girl is awake. I figured you would be able to make better company than me, you know, with girl talk and all," Naruto said with a shrug.

"Couldn't you have gotten Anko? She's a girl too" the woman whined.

"I don't want to be blamed should our resident psychopath decide to do…unpleasant things to our very important prisoner" the blonde stated.

"Ok, I get it. You go to sleep, I've got things covered" Kana mumbled as she stood up and stretched.

Naruto nodded before walking over to a particularly soft looking patch of grass, which was strategically positioned away from the crazy snake lady. Kana shook her head at the boy's antics as he continued to send cautious glances to their purple haired teammate. Eventually, the blonde lied down and relaxed…mostly. Kana shrugged before sauntering over to the less than cheerful Kurotsuchi, sitting down next to the girl with a deep sigh.

"So" she began awkwardly. "Do you like to read?" Kana asked curiously.

Kurotsuchi stared at the woman blankly. Compared to her calm and collected attitude earlier she was acting far too…pleasant for the Iwa kunoichi's liking. "I…suppose" the girl answered apprehensively.

Kana nodded her head happily. "Are you familiar with the works of the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya?" she asked cheerfully.

"Uh, no" Kurotsuchi replied unsurely.

The older woman gasped in shock as she stared wide eyed at the girl. "Well that simply will not do. I fear that I must educate you my dear, on the literary excellence that is Icha-Icha!" she exclaimed.

Kurotsuchi watched as Kana reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a small orange covered book. The girl's eyes widened to comical proportions as she remembered why that title sounded so familiar. '_That's the book that I always catch gramps reading in his office; the one that he always giggles at' _she thought in surprise.

"Now don't worry if some things don't make perfect sense, you are still very young after all so I don't expect you to understand absolutely everything. If you have any questions please don't be afraid to ask me, ok. I'll be happy to explain anything as best as I can" Kana said cheerfully as she opened the book to the first page.

_'This must be some twisted torture method, it has to be. What kind of women do they raise in Konoha, and why are they all perverts?'_ Kurotsuchi thought in a panic.

Kana simply smirked from behind her mask. _'This is going to be beautiful. I get to destroy yet another girl's innocence. In your face Anko!' _she cheered mentally.

"Welcome to the dark side my dear. We have more fun," the masked woman whispered mischievously.

And so began the longest night of Kurotsuchi's life. She still wouldn't be able to manage anything more than inane muttering for several hours, even when under threat of agonizing death from Anko to shut up. Naruto and Izo made the wise decision to remain silent after waking up; they knew what had transpired, Kana's perverse, and slightly mad giggling had explained everything clearer than glass. Thin and amazingly fragile glass, much like what was left of Kurotsuchi's sanity. Poor girl never stood a chance.

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><p><strong>AN:**

Well guys, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. I intend to start bringing in the more humor orientated type stuff soon, hopefully my idea of humor will be well received. I'm also planning to gradually increase the length of my chapters for the sake of reasons, along with putting my authors notes at the end of my chapters from now on since then it's not annoying anyone at the beginning.

Any and all reviews are appreciated, as are questions and/or suggestions. If you are going to complain or just out right hate on my Fanfic, then please do it in a constructive fashion of some sort, even if it has to be in Latin.

Anyway, until next time i guess.


	11. House Guest

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do however own any and all OC's I create along with any original jutsu in this story.

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><p>Sarutobi stared blankly at the team in his office, not even bothering to pay any attention to the pink eyed girl that had done nothing but stare into the distance. He knew the mission was going to go bad in some way, as it always did when concerning Naruto; but for it to go this unbelievably bad was simply ridiculous. It wouldn't have been quite as bad had they simply left, but oh no, they had to bring back the Tsuchikage's granddaughter as a prisoner.<p>

_'Ōnoki is going to flip out when he hears about this. Kami forbid should he decide to come here himself' _he groaned mentally.

He turned his eyes to the girl, who acted as if no one else in the room existed at that time, and observed her with a keen eye. As far as he could tell, she was in good condition, or at least hadn't suffered any detrimental injuries. He of course knew about the girl having dislocated her shoulder and breaking several ribs, which were healed by Kana shortly after taking her captive, and he was painfully aware of the 'bonding time' that the older woman had spent with the girl. Needless to say, if the Yamanaka's couldn't erase the mental scars from that, they were all screwed.

The old man's eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed that Izo's hand continued to twitch occasionally. He had known the boy long enough to know that that was not always a good sign; he was still deciding on whether or not it was even a good thing that he knew that. Either way, he knew that keeping Izo in his office any longer than required was a hazard to his health, so he would have to make this as quick as possible. The fact that Naruto seemed a little too eager to get out also helped him decide on the right course of action.

"Ok, so let me get this all straight so I don't get stuck with anymore paperwork than I already have" the Hokage began tiredly. "You went to the meeting point, which Izo then entered alone, while you three acted as standby backup" he said, gesturing to Kana, Naruto, and Anko, receiving nods from all three. "And then you…" he pointed at Izo. "…decided to show off because you thought that your current prisoner was cute"

Izo grinned widely, not bothering to deny the accusations. "Yeah that sounds about right. But in my defence, everything worked out for the better in the long run" the boy stated cheerfully.

Hiruzen glared at the blindfolded boy. He almost wished the boy had suffered severe injuries from the trap just so he could restrict him to a hospital bed for several weeks. "If you think that this situation we have found ourselves in is better in the long run, then you have much to learn," he stated sternly. "Not only do we have a destroyed Iwa military base, but we also have four dead Iwa shinobi whom we could easily be blamed for killing. I know that only one of them was actually killed by you Izo, but as far as Iwa is concerned, so were the others"

The aged man let out an irritated sigh. "As if that weren't already bad enough, you went ahead and captured the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage. I'm going to overlook the…treatment that she received while in your care since none of you were actually trying to cause the girl any discomfort or harm…I hope" he said, eyeing Kana and Anko suspiciously. "None the less, we have been given a unique opportunity that I hope we will be able to use to our advantage. Due to this, I'll label this mission as a success. That also means that you pass your field exam Anko; I look forward to seeing what you bring to the table"

Anko smiled and bowed to him. "Thankyou lord Hokage. I hope I don't let you down" she said happily.

"You got nothing to worry about there, Anko. You can't really let him down when just staring at you is probably getting him up" Naruto said with a snigger. "If he can still even get up"

Sarutobi blushed in embarrassment as Anko grinned mischievously. "You little bastard!" Hiruzen muttered angrily. At that moment, the Hokage swore that Naruto would be stuck catching Tora every time that the blonde was available to do so.

"So, lord Hokage, am I supposed to salute you, or have you already saluted me?" Anko asked in a sultry voice.

Hiruzen glared at the gathered people in his office. All of them were struggling to suppress their laughter, including Kurotsuchi since even she had a sense of humour buried deep down inside her…somewhere. Even the four ANBU guards, who were specially selected members of the new ROOT program, were struggling to stop themselves from chuckling at their leader's expense. Oddly enough, Izo was the first to calm himself down, if only barely. The boy still maintained a disturbing grin on his face and twitched every now and then.

"You're dismissed Anko" he said dryly, making the purple haired woman pout.

"See ya later suckers. I'm gunna go celebrate!" Anko cheered loudly as she ran out of the office.

The Hokage waited for the door to close and the privacy seals to reactivate before continuing. "So, Kurotsuchi. Would it be at all possible for you to not mention anything that you've learnt about my shinobi to your village?" he asked hopefully.

"Not a chance wrinkles. As soon as I'm out of here, the entire elemental nations will know that Konoha has a jinchuuriki. Of course, that comes second to what I've got on the blind freak of nature over there," she said, nudging her head towards Izo.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at that as he turned to look curiously at the boy. "Kuro-Chan, why would you call me such a thing? I thought we had a connection," Izo said in mock hurt, wiping away a non existant tear.

"No person alive can throw around two Kekkei Genkai and a Kekkei Tōta that is only known by my grandfather. As soon as anyone in Iwa hears about you using the Jinton, you'll have a whole village coming for your head for stealing village secrets," she stated firmly.

"Yes, about that" the Hokage began sternly. "I cannot let any of the other villages know about either of the boys abilities just yet. Now, I could hold you here in Konoha until such a time that that information is no longer relevant or of concern to me, or I could have one of the Yamanaka clan wipe your memory of the last few days and implant something more…pleasant" he said calmly.

Kurotsuchi glared at the old man. "You expect me to choose between imprisonment, or letting myself get mind fucked by some random guy who could do anything while in my head. I am not going to let you pry information out of me so easily," she growled angrily.

Hiruzen sighed. "There is another option. Keep in mind however, that I would rather you choose one of the aforementioned as this one is a bit extreme" he said bluntly. "Izo here just so happens to be a very skilled seal master of sorts. I could have him place a seal on you that would keep you from revealing any information about things we would like to keep secret, and you would be free to go back home"

"What's the catch? What happens should I decide to tell anyway?" the girl asked.

"At first, you would experience agonising pain that hopefully would deter you from trying further. Should you prove stubborn and continue to reveal things, the seal would activate fully and force you to go completely brain dead," Izo explained casually.

Kurotsuchi gulped fearfully at that. She expected the seal to be severe, probably to the point that it would kill her, but to cause pain and make her brain dead; that was a bit too far. Death was acceptable; becoming a vegetable was not. "And what, am I supposed to just spend the rest of my life with that seal constantly keeping me paranoid?" she asked shakily.

"No. After the information is no longer of concern, I would have Izo remove the seal," Hiruzen replied.

The girl frowned as she thought over her options. She was in the middle of Konoha already so any and all chances of escape or rescue were null and void. She knew that if she didn't make the decision herself, it would be made for her, and more than likely the Yamanaka option would be chosen. It disturbed her how easy it was for those guys to mess with people's heads, and she didn't trust them not to turn her into some sleeper agent for Konoha.

"If I were to choose imprisonment, where would I be forced to stay?" Kurotsuchi asked curiously. The longer she went without being mind fucked the longer she had to plan her escape or get rescued.

Sarutobi thought about it for a few seconds before turning his eyes to Izo and Kana, whom were reading their own copies of Icha-Icha openly, however Izo managed to do that while blindfolded. Naruto was standing off to the side of them while grumbling about perverts. A mischievous gleam appeared in the old man's dark eyes as all three Uzumaki instantly got a sense of foreboding. Hiruzen grinned and thanked Kami for giving him such a perfect and unique opportunity to make Naruto and Izo suffer for everything they had done to him in the past several years.

"I suddenly feel the desire to kill the old geezer," Izo muttered in confusion.

"So do I" Naruto said with a thoughtful expression.

"I really hate it when you two have the same feeling. It's even worse when I feel it too," Kana mumbled irritably.

The Hokage smirked triumphantly as he looked back to the confused Iwa kunoichi. "Well my dear, if you so happen to choose imprisonment, then I will have no other choice but to put you under the direct care of the Uzumaki's" he said, grinning like an idiot as said family went deathly silent.

"What!" Kurotsuchi yelled indignantly as she stared wide eyed at the clearly senile man.

"I'm gunna tie him up and burn those books in front of him, then I'll take the hat for myself and outlaw those books completely" Naruto muttered insanely before both Izo and Kana bashed him over the head.

"Naru-Chan, I love you, I really do, but so help me if you ban Icha-Icha I will castrate you with a sheet of paper," Kana threatened dangerously.

Izo nodded in agreement. "I'm with her on this one. Sorry bro, but the way of the pervert is stronger than the way of the…whatever you are," he said with a shrug.

Kurotsuchi watched this interaction in shock before turning to look at the Hokage as if he were insane. "You're leaving me with them!" she yelled.

Sarutobi chuckled. "Yes, I am. If you choose imprisonment, you will spend your time with the Uzumaki's, with a seal to confine you to their compound of course. You will stay there until we receive word from Iwa, at which point we will negotiate a peaceful way to return you. However, you will still need to choose one of the other options before we let you leave this village. Think of this as time to think things over carefully" he explained calmly.

"Do we get a say in this?" Izo asked curiously.

Hiruzen glared at the boy. "No, you most certainly do not" he replied sternly.

"What is wrong with you people? I thought the stories of Konoha were exaggerated, but you're all even more insane than I could have imagined!" the pink eyed girl exclaimed.

"We strive to shatter all expectation made of us!" Naruto said proudly.

"We strive to bring all legends and myths to fruition!" Izo added just as proudly.

"And above all, we strive to praise the log and spread its divine glory across all of the elemental nations!" Kana finished as all three of them, as well as the Hokage, all put their hands together in prayer.

"Amen" they all said in unison.

Kurotsuchi deadpanned at the other occupants of the room. She was really starting to consider taking the seal just so she could kill herself; it would definitely be less painful than this. The Yamanaka mind fuck was also looking much friendlier than this, even if it put some of her more private memories and thoughts at risk; it had to be better than watching a bunch of idiots praise a log of all things. _'What kind of insane morons praise an inanimate object' _she mumbled mentally. Out of nowhere, a log simply appeared and fell down suddenly on top of the black haired girl, knocking her to the ground and shocking everyone else in the room.

"Heathen!" Izo yelled, pointing accusingly at the girl.

Sarutobi coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "Now that the theatrics are done with, we need to get this meeting over and done with. Kurotsuchi, you will be placed under the Uzumaki's care effective immediately. Kana, would you please take our young guest to your family residence and keep an eye on her for now, I still have something to talk to the boys about" he said, getting a nod from the woman.

Kurotsuchi snorted at being called a guest. She was a prisoner, plain and simple. Trying to cover it up, or worse, glorify it, was insulting to her as a kunoichi. None the less, she didn't argue or struggle when Kana walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. The boys and the Hokage watched as Kana and Kurotsuchi disappeared in a leaf Shunshin.

Hiruzen sighed as he threw a small scroll to Izo, who caught it and quickly unsealed its contents, showing it to be a new mask identical to his old one. "Ah, the famed ANBU mask. Quite possibly the most useless identity concealing method known to the shinobi world. Oh how I've missed you," the blindfolded boy said softly as he cradled the porcelain construct.

"So what did you want to talk about old man?" Naruto asked casually, taking off his fox mask for the time being.

The Hokage frowned slightly. "The council, or more accurately, my old teammates, have been getting a bit more nosey. Due to them I have had to move one of our plans ahead of schedule" he replied seriously.

"Which one?" Izo asked curiously.

"I have repealed the law I placed concerning the Kyuubi, and also revealed a certain amount of information on what you are Izo. As it stands, most of the village is probably aware by now as to who and what the both of you are. I doubt their reactions regarding you, Naruto, will change much since that wasn't a well-kept secret before now anyway; but I feel I should warn you, Izo, about how the village may react" the aged man explained.

"Are we allowed to defend ourselves without unjust repercussions?" Naruto asked emotionlessly.

Hiruzen smirked slightly. "You are official shinobi of Konoha boys, even if only genin. Attacking any ranking shinobi is a crime of which the punishment is decided by the victim. I'm not giving you permission to kill everyone that attacks you, but you are allowed to set an example for those stupid enough to try anything," he said with a slightly cheerful tone.

"Well then, there's nothing to worry about. So long as I can defend myself, I should be fine. Not to mention the fact that most of FALL would go on a rampage if one of its leaders were to suddenly get killed" Izo said casually.

"Yes, speaking of which. You two are on lockdown from ROOT or FALL missions. Kana will take charge in your stead while you two cement your identity as genin. Sooner or later, the council will start asking stupid questions about the two of you, so it would be best if you had some more connections with the younger generation. It would amaze you how much children can influence their parents when it comes to things like this" Sarutobi said with a grin.

"Yeah, as long as they don't all hate us for being what we are already. It wouldn't surprise me if their parents have already started the speech about the evil Kyuubi child," Naruto said with a humourless chuckle.

"Shut up! At least what they call you sounds kinda cool. What do you think they'll call me?" Izo asked in slight panic.

"Who knows? Anko already has snake whore taken, so we'll just have to wait and see what you get stuck with," the blonde said with a mischievous smirk. _'It wouldn't hurt if I started offering up certain titles while disguised as a civilian. I just have to make sure that Izo doesn't find out' _he thought with a mental snigger.

Izo groaned as he put his mask on. He had to remain completely hidden while the team made it back to the Hokage tower, which wasn't as hard as it was irritating. With his mask back, he could 'safely' walk around Konoha without being recognised. It was laughable how blind and unobservant people must have been to let a simple mask stop them from identifying someone. The hair was always a dead giveaway in regards to most, and their scent and movements were also easy to make connections with.

"Come on Naruto. I have a seal to put on Kuro-Chan, and you have some ramen to eat" Izo drawled lazily before disappearing in his own purple leaf Shunshin.

Naruto was about to follow suit before the Hokage signalled for him to wait. "Did you want something old man?" he asked curiously.

"Izo's episode…it hasn't completely worn off yet has it?" Sarutobi asked seriously.

The blonde frowned. "No, he still has some chakra to burn off, but not anywhere near enough to elicit another full episode. He'll continue to act a little bit more…eccentric for a few days or so, but he'll be back to normal soon" he replied.

"Just keep an eye on him, ok. His condition is eating at him more and more these days, and I have little doubt that he could snap and lose himself should he feel that you are threatened" Hiruzen said sadly.

"Cheer up old man. This is Izo we're talking about; he would fight the Shinigami with a potato and still find some way to come out of it alive. Surviving is his strong suit after all," Naruto said with a grin before disappearing in a Shunshin.

Sarutobi frowned. "Him surviving is what I'm worried about" he mumbled to himself as he went back to his paperwork.

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><p>"WHAT!" Kurotsuchi screamed in rage.<p>

Izo winced at the volume and clutched his hands over his ears as he waited for when he knew for certain that it was safe. After a few seconds of the girl silently glaring at him, he figured it was as good as it was gunna get so he uncovered his ears and stared blankly at the girl.

"Like I just said, I'm going to need you to remove the top half of your uniform. I need to be able to draw this seal straight onto your skin, and no you do not get a say in this," he said sternly.

Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes at him. "How do I know that you're not just a pervert who's trying to sneak a peek, or cop a feel?" she asked sceptically.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I'm blindfolded and can't see shit past these bandages. But please, if you know of some way that I could get around such an obstacle, then I beg of you, do tell; I would be so ever in your debt" the boy said sarcastically. "As for copping a feel; well, if I wanted to I could just knock you the fuck out and have my way with you. Considering I'm not doing that, I think it's safe to say that I have morals"

"Did you really have to put it like that?" the girl asked nervously. The guy was managing to freak her out without actually doing anything to her…yet.

"Yes, I did. If I had not, you would not fully understand the situation you just happen to be in. So start stripping," Izo said cheerfully.

"This is the exact reason why you never have any success with girls' bro. You are far too straight forward with things. One must first learn the language of the female species before they attempt to woo them, which you clearly haven't done" Naruto stated dramatically from the other side of the room.

Izo growled. "If I wanted the opinion of a short and annoying idiot who barely even interacts with the opposite sex, I would have long since killed myself in shame," he muttered.

"Hey, I'm not that short anymore! You can't pick on me for my height when I'm taller than she is!" the blonde exclaimed as he pointed at Kurotsuchi.

"Don't you dare bring me into this blondie!" Kurotsuchi yelled.

"Foolish little brother. You forget; Kuro-Chan is automatically exempt from being called short for several reasons. Firstly, she is a girl, and one must never comment negatively on a girl's height for fear of genital mutilation. Secondly, she is still young; therefor, she has yet to reach her full height and cannot be judged until such a time. Last but not least, she's cute, and by extension, more important than you" the older sibling explained sagely.

Naruto and Kurotsuchi deadpanned at the older boy. "You are an idiot. A knowledgeable idiot, but an idiot none the less" Kurotsuchi said in a slightly impressed tone.

"I aim to please. Now take off your clothes already!" he exclaimed.

Kurotsuchi blushed lightly as she continued to glare at the blindfolded moron. "I don't want him around" she said sternly, pointing at Naruto. "And if your hands get…curious, you lose teeth," she growled out.

"How many?" Izo asked curiously.

Despite the laws of nature, the girl's eyes began to glow dangerously in fury. "More than you can afford to lose," she said through gritted teeth.

Izo nodded in understanding. "Fair enough, I'll make a note of that somewhere. For now though, let's go to the room you'll be staying in while you're with us. I do believe girls prefer privacy during these types of things," he said casually. "Naruto, I suggest you get a head start on our comrade assessments. It's best we figure out who's on our side and who's likely to stab us in the back," he said seriously.

Naruto shrugged. "That's fine by me. I was gunna go for a walk anyway, at least this way I can preoccupy myself in some way. Just make sure you aren't too loud with your new girlfriend, ok; Kana is bad enough with her books, we don't need her giving us the safe sex presentation again" the blonde shivered at the memory. "Those diagrams will haunt me for the rest of my life," he said shakily.

Kurotsuchi stared at the blonde with wide eyes, her blush gradually increasing as the younger boys words registered in her mind. "Girlfriend?" she asked quietly, making Izo's dangerous female sense go off instantly. "I'll KILL YOU!" the girl screamed as she lunged at Naruto.

Izo quickly grabbed the collar of the girls uniform and began dragging her away kicking and screaming. "Thanks a lot you brat. Now I have to calm her down as well!" he yelled angrily as he disappeared around a corner, taking the black haired girl with him.

Naruto grinned widely at his accomplishment. Making Izo's life more miserable was always a great way to improve one's mood, no matter how down they might be feeling. He let out a quiet sigh as he walked to his own room within the Namikaze estate. It was a good thing that Kana had used the Shunshin to bring Kurotsuchi straight into the small mansion; he would hate to think what the girl would do if she found out his identity so quickly. Such complications could wait for later, after she had the seal placed on her.

He quickly reached the door to his room, which happened to be the master bedroom that his parents had used. The door itself was covered in so many visible seals that it would confuse and deter any intruders for fear of what it would do. If only they could see the numerous seals that weren't visible. Oddly enough, the room as a whole was built like a bunker. Breaking into or out of the room was near impossible without using the Hiraishin, or unless you were Izo. Naruto still didn't know how his brother was able to get into his room and in all honesty, he didn't want to.

It had become glaringly obvious that any oddity that had to do with Izo was best not to investigate. Sometimes the boy simply found a way to do the unexplainable just to infuriate those around him, which Naruto could never get angry at him for since he did the same. Of course, their methods of messing with people did vary, but the idea was practically the same. Izo used his insane sealing abilities and out of the box thinking to break several universal laws of physics and nature, while Naruto used whatever was at his disposal to do pull pranks of a subtle yet disastrous nature. There was a reason why the Akimichi never dared to clean out the Ichiraku ramen stand anymore.

The blonde sniggered at that memory. The Akimichi clan couldn't even look at a bowl of ramen without getting queasy for several weeks afterwards. Even Izo had gone so far as to congratulate him on a job well done, before giving him a long winded speech about the glories of revenge. Naruto shook his head of those thoughts and bit hit thumb hard enough to draw blood before smearing it on the centre of the door. A series of audible clicking and scraping noises were heard from the other side of the door before it popped open. The blonde wasted no time as he walked in and closed the door behind him.

He watched and made sure that the multiple locks and deadbolts that ran up the entire length of the door reset themselves into the locked position. Many would call a boy his age insane for having had so many locks installed, but Naruto figured he was justified considering his past experiences with people. He was perfectly happy with his room being closed off from the outside world, no matter how antisocial it made him appear.

Compared to Izo, who had all but taken complete control of the basement, his room really wasn't all that bad. At least he didn't turn his living quarter into some weird work station/science lab; he much preferred having an actual place to sleep and relax. Naruto carelessly removed his ANBU mask and tossed it onto the large bed, taking a short moment to stare almost longingly at the small picture of his parents on the bedside table. He sighed at he started to remove his ANBU outfit, gradually making his way to the walk in wardrobe.

It was somewhat amazing how large his bedroom was, being almost as large as his old apartment, and in much, much better condition. The room itself was large and open, with a good sized bathroom connected to it; there was also a sizable study room filled with many of his father's notes on seals and jutsu. The walk in wardrobe was a given, along with, oddly enough, a separate ceiling compartment above the room that was also heavily protected by seals. Although he was slightly irritated by the Yondaime's choices regarding him, he did have a begrudging respect for his old man. The man certainly knew what he was doing when it came to security, even if it was extreme and fuelled by insane levels of paranoia.

Naruto figured that the Hokage wouldn't be sending him and Izo on a mission for at least a day or two considering the events of their previous mission, so he opted for some casual attire to roam the village. Hopefully the civilians wouldn't be so open about their hatred if he appeared less threatening, not that a thirteen year old blonde kid with bright blue eyes was very threatening in the first place. In the end, he opted for a simple dark orange shirt and black baggy pants, making sure to tie his forehead protector around his head as a precaution.

He calmly walked out of his room, once again making sure that all of the locks and seals reset themselves before sauntering back down stairs and towards the front door; he could use the Hiraishin to jump to the village, but he found that that particular jutsu got extremely boring very quickly. How his father could use it so much was beyond him. Naruto would have a mental breakdown just from being so repetitive before he actually used up enough of his chakra to be considered anywhere near drained.

As the blonde made it to the front door, he was privileged to the loud roar of fury courtesy of Kurotsuchi, and the high pitched scream of a terrified Izo. Naruto gained a worried expression as he considered the possibility of his brother actually being killed by the Iwa kunoichi. If anything, it would be a blessing…in one way or another. He shrugged and exited his mansion, leaving his much beloved brother to the horrors that he had brought upon himself. If he was really lucky, the girl would make Izo use enough chakra to burn off the excess he had running through his system. Kami forbid the blindfolded boy ask for a spar.

Naruto shivered as he remembered the last 'friendly' spar between the boys. Izo was a monster with his sword…when he was pushed to use it that is. A loud scream of agony echoed through the halls, making Naruto leave with a little bit more haste to his step. He really needed a quiet day out.

* * *

><p>Danzō sat calmly in his underground office of ROOT headquarters. He pondered over the events of the past several years; what had happened, how things had improved, whether or not it was worth it in the long run. So far, things had been going better than he could have imagined. With Sarutobi helping him keep ROOT hidden from the public and increase funding, the foundation had improved by leaps and bounds.<p>

The new training programs, along with the candidate system, allowed ROOT to expand exponentially and gave way to the formation of the branches. ROOT itself was still maintaining its above average efficiency compared to the standard ANBU forces, but with the addition of STEM, the casualty rate had dropped to near none existant. The idea of a medic specialised program was ingenious, and he owed it to Sarutobi for managing to gather up the remainders of Tsunade's medical notes.

It would have been a dream come true if Tsunade herself were to return and start offering her own expertise in the field, but neither he nor Hiruzen were foolish enough to attempt anything in regards to forcing her to do it. Blackmailing a woman of her reputation was ill advised to anyone who couldn't survive having their male parts crushed into mush. He could always get Naruto to try it, the boy's healing ability would probably allow him to survive, become mentally scarred, but stay alive none the less. Izo was also a possibility since that boy seemed to be able to survive anything thrown at him, by some miracle or another.

Danzō rolled his one visible eye at his own thoughts and went back to thinking over the improvements of the foundation. Overall, everything was going smoothly. ROOT had increased in numbers, even having agents that were specifically integrated into the standard Konoha forces for general information gathering and keeping an eye on the official on goings of the village shinobi. STEM was keeping the ROOT agents alive and also doubled as a private interrogation unit in some cases; most of its agents were either doctors or nurses at the Konoha hospital, or just standard shinobi who never attracted much attention to themselves.

FALL was, for a lack of better words, a well-functioning disaster of cataclysmic proportion. It was a small faction compared to the other two, but each member was powerful in their own right, and not to be trifled with. FALL agents were all able to imitate techniques and tactics of other hidden villages so as to cause confusion and draw attention away from Konoha, but they were all fully capable of their own unique and powerful abilities. Due to the lack of numbers, Danzō only used FALL agents for the more difficult jobs; he couldn't risk losing any of them on an unimportant and trivial chores.

The old war hawks eye narrowed as a ROOT agent appeared in front of his desk in a kneeled position. "What is it?" the cripple asked dryly. He had been enjoying his peace and quiet.

"Lord Danzō. I have returned from Takigakure with information on the target," the agent stated calmly, placing a scroll on the desk.

Danzō picked up the scroll and quickly scanned over its contents before frowning. "Those arrogant fools. Sarutobi will be most displeased with this information, but at least we will be able to agree on something…again. They dare to waste the Shodai Hokage's gift and insult our village, for such actions they must be taught a lesson in humility" the crippled elder paused and snapped his fingers, making three more ROOT agents appear before him. "I want you four to go to Taki and keep tabs on the target. I imagine that Sarutobi will send a team to take care of the matter soon, at which point you will report any of your findings to those of the team who are a part of the foundation" he said sternly.

"Lord Danzō, how can you be sure that the team that lord Hokage sends will have one of our own in its numbers? What should we do if the council decides to interfere and mess with things?" one of the agents asked curiously.

The war hawk smirked. "Don't worry. Those fools won't have the time or patience to interfere with the mission or the team that will be taking it. If the letter I received from my old rival is true concerning the Uzumaki's latest mission, the council will have far more to worry about than a simple scouting mission to Taki," he said calmly.

"Of course lord Danzō, forgive me for questioning" the agent apologised.

"It's fine. Your concerns were well founded. You are dismissed; leave for Taki when you are ready" Danzō said.

"Yes lord Danzō," the four agents chanted before disappearing.

"It seems as though Konoha is getting much stronger than even I anticipated it would. Should we be able to gain more outside contacts, then we will become almost unstoppable" the elder mused to himself before frowning. "If only we could finally figure out why the Kazekage is distancing Suna from us, then we would have the upper hand on three of the other major hidden villages," he muttered.

_'I suppose that could do with some further investigation' _he thought.

* * *

><p>Naruto let out a relaxed sigh as he leant back up against the wooden bench. He never really spent that much time in the park when he was younger, for obvious reasons, but now that he was here, he couldn't help but marvel at the tranquillity of the place. Sure, there were a few kids running around and being surprisingly loud, but he would have been doing the exact same if he was still their age so he let them be.<p>

It was slightly discomforting to see that several adults had removed their children from the park as soon as they recognised him. He idly wondered if any of the kids new about him yet, or if they were even mature enough to understand or care. It would have been amusing to see the parents facial expression should their child simply shrug the whole thing off, or even go so far as to call Naruto cool for having so much power. Then again, the civilians would probably pop a blood vessel and scream to high heaven about the Kyuubi child influencing the innocent youth.

Thankfully, the clan heads, or at least most of them, maintained level heads when it came to the Kyuubi, and so Naruto didn't really need to worry about any of the major clans unless there were any particularly irate members. The Hyuuga clan was full of pompous assholes as it was so he didn't really care if Hiashi had expressed his impassiveness to anyone from that clan. Actually, the only clans he really didn't want to get on the bad side of was the Inuzuka and perhaps the Yamanaka. The Inuzuka were the only clan that could actually track him down if they had the persistence and rip him to shreds, while the Yamanaka were far to accomplished when it came to messing with people's heads. He really didn't need some stupid cocky bastard messing up the seal on accident.

The Nara, Akimichi, and Aburame were all fine by him. He and the Akimichi already had a begrudging respect for each other along with an understanding when it came to Ichiraku's so they were all in the clear. The Nara clan was simply too lazy to actually care about him in the first place, aside from the women of the clan of whom the males complained about extensively. Knowing how all of them were easily above average intelligence, Naruto figured that none of them would go ahead and accuse him of being a monster. The Aburame, were quiet as fuck. Naruto couldn't make heads or tails of the bug users, and he wasn't sure if that was such a good thing.

Scanning the park lazily, Naruto was met with the intense gaze of a rather young Hyuuga girl. Judging from the branch house bodyguard she had standing nearby, and the fact that she herself was not branded with the cage bird seal, meant that she was more than likely Hiashi's youngest daughter Hanabi. The girl clearly had her Byakugan activated which probably meant that she was trying to figure out why, or rather how, someone his age was pumping out such a ridiculous amount of chakra effortlessly. Naruto mentally prayed that the girl wouldn't come asking him questions, the Hyuuga had developed and perfected the art of making everything sound like a demand from royalty.

Eventually her bodyguard took notice of what she was staring at and took her away with a disgusted expression. The blonde jinchuuriki shrugged before once again scanning the park lazily. His bright blue eyes stopped on a young girl sitting off to the side with a seemingly gloomy mood about her. He groaned at his own apparent dislike of seeing children sad and sauntered over to the girl. Whoever the girl was, she seemed to be extremely focused on a small group of Inuzuka kids playing with their dogs, which didn't surprise Naruto since the girl also had the red fang like markings on her cheeks.

She looked like most Inuzuka girls tend to do, except for that one vet girl who somehow didn't get taken over by the clan's feral nature. She had just above shoulder length brown hair that was even spikier and uncontrollable than his own was after being hit by lightning, a true accomplishment if he did say so himself; her attire consisted of a pair of simple dark blue shorts and a plain white t-shirt. Overall, she didn't stand out in the slightest when it came to the rest of the Inuzuka.

Without a sound, or any other indication, he sat himself down next to the girl, leaning up against the tree she was sitting against. The girl simply stared at him in a combination of confusion and irritation; confusion, because what kind of person would choose to sit next to her and not on one of the park benches, and irritation because she hadn't even noticed his existence until he was right next to her. As an Inuzuka she should have been able to smell him from a very good distance away, not let him sneak up on her like he had.

"You know, some people consider staring to be rude," Naruto said lazily, not even turning to acknowledge her.

The girl glared at him. "You reek of foxes," she muttered.

"You would be amazed at how often I get told that, even by normal people" he replied with a chuckle.

"What do you want?" she asked bluntly.

"Company, mostly" the blonde said with a shrug. "I could also go for a bowl of ramen, but it's so far away and it seems as if I'm needed here more"

The girl huffed and turned away from him. "Something's wrong with you," she mumbled quietly.

"Good to know we have something in common. So, do you wanna talk about what's making you all doom and gloomy, uh, what's your name?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Ashi" she grumbled.

"Well then, Ashi, what's eating ya?" he asked casually.

Ashi stared at him in confusion. "Eating me? What's that mean?" she asked.

"It's an expression of sorts. It means what's bugging you, or rather, what's making you feel so down and stuff," Naruto explained.

"Oh. I don't know" she lied.

"Really? It wouldn't by chance have anything to do with the fact that you keep on watching your other clan members, you know, the ones that actually have their canine companions with them," the blonde asked lazily.

The girl actually growled at that. "It isn't my fault that none of the new pups want to go anywhere near me. They're the ones missing out, not me!" she exclaimed angrily.

"And now we're getting somewhere. I agree by the way, it certainly isn't your fault, I hope. But it isn't the end of the world, I mean, can't you just wait for the next litter to come around and get one then?" he asked curiously.

"No. The clan always plans out the birth of the litters for each year so that each generation gets a partner at the same age. If you can't find a companion from the litter born on the year meant for you, then you don't get one," Ashi explained sadly. "I'm the only one who's never gotten one in decades"

Naruto frowned. "Is that particularly bad in your clan?" he asked.

Ashi nodded sadly. "No one will play with me because their dogs don't like me, and they think I'm a disgrace to the clan. The adults are more understanding, but even they aren't happy with what's happening"

"Have you tried finding a companion from outside of the clan, perhaps from the wild or something?" the blonde inquired.

"We can do that?" she asked with wide hopeful eyes.

Naruto shrugged. "I would assume so. Where do you think all the first members of your clan got their partners? They certainly didn't buy them in a pet shop," he said. "For now though, why don't you come with me. I know some four legged friends that wouldn't mind having someone play with them for the day, and you really need something to distract you for the moment"

The blonde stood up and helped Ashi to her feet. Momentarily taking notice of the fact that she was taller than he was at her age. Looking back on things, it would make sense that most nine year olds would be taller than he was at that age. He hated to admit it, but malnutrition had left him as a midget in those years. Thankfully, that was no longer the case, even if he did have to suffer at the hands of Izo before the message managed to sink in.

He shrugged those depressing thoughts off and started walking into the expanse of trees, Ashi following behind him cautiously. It was a good thing that she wasn't just blindly trusting him, he had only met her less than five minutes ago and she didn't even know his name. He would be downright terrified for her if she wasn't cautious of him. Eventually they made to a small clearing in the trees that was far from anywhere and isolated. After making sure that no one was watching them, he nodded and turned to Ashi with an idiot sized grin.

"You ready?" he asked cheerfully.

"I guess so," Ashi answered unsurely.

"Good" Naruto said as he bit his thumb and went through some hand seals before slamming his hand to the ground. "**Summoning jutsu!**" he exclaimed as a small cloud of smoke engulfed him.

When the smoke cleared, Ashi's eyes widened in surprise and awe. Standing around Naruto were five small orange foxes, all of them clearly being young kits judging by their size. Five sets of eyes suddenly locked onto the girl, freaking her out slightly, before they all quickly ducked behind Naruto and tried to hide behind his legs.

"Foxes?" Ashi asked curiously. "Is that why you smell like them so much?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sort of, I guess. I'm the only person who can actually summon the little guys. For now though, they need someone to keep them company and play with. Since you just so happen to have nothing else to do, as far as I know, I'm putting them in your care. Do you think you can handle that?" he asked.

"Uh huh" the girl replied happily.

The blonde calmly reached down and picked up one of the small fox kits before walking over and handing it to Ashi, making the poor girl even more nervous. The fox quickly began to sniff at her curiously before yipping in excitement, eliciting the other small foxes to do the same and race over to the girl's feet, all of them surrounding her and running around her playfully. Naruto chuckled to himself as he began walking away, waving to Ashi as he went.

"They'll stick around as long as you're in this clearing. Once you leave, or if someone else comes here, they'll return. Have fun," he said cheerfully.

"Wait!" Ashi called out.

Naruto paused in his step and looked back at the girl curiously. "Yeah?"

"What's your name?" she asked quietly.

The young jinchuuriki grinned. "Naruto Uzumaki. Ask around, you'll figure out who I am soon enough" he replied casually. "See ya later" he called out as he walked away.

Hidden in one of the surrounding trees, an ANBU watched the interaction between the two kids with interest. _'So the Kyuubi child can summon foxes. The demon could be influencing him. The elders must know about this' _the man thought before disappearing in a Shunshin.

Naruto felt the small surge of chakra and smirked. _'So the council does have some ANBU on their payroll. The old man should find this interesting' _he mused mentally as he continued to walk away. Perhaps he would give Teuchi and Ayame a visit.

* * *

><p>By the time Naruto made it back to the mansion, it was well after dark. He had accidentally lost track of time while relaxing on top of the Hokage monument, the falling asleep part also contributed but he didn't think anyone else needed to know about that. Either way, he wouldn't be needing much sleep tonight, so maybe he would finally have some time to plan yet another ingenious prank. His last brilliant plan to paint the Hokage monument had been foiled prematurely by Danzō's ROOT.<p>

Smearing some of his blood on the front door, he opened it and walked in tiredly. It had occurred to him several times over the past few years that most of the doors in the Namikaze estate required blood to unlock them, but he just figured it had something to do with his father's severe paranoia. Imagine the villages surprise and shock should they find out that their hero, the legendary yellow flash, was quite possibly the most paranoid person next to Hanzō of the salamander. There would be a literal shit storm after his head if anyone heard him comparing the Yondaime Hokage to Hanzō.

Naruto froze mid step as he entered the lounge room and stared at Izo, who just so happened to be sitting calmly on one of the lounges. Naruto wasn't exactly sure, but he figured from the excessive amount of blood running down from his brother's nose that something had obviously gone wrong.

"You got fucked up, didn't you?" the blonde asked dryly.

Izo groaned in pain. "That girl isn't human. She broke my nose like six times, and she even managed to stab me once with a kunai that I have no idea how or where she got. On the bright side, she now has the seal and is asleep in her room, and I managed to burn off all my excess chakra healing myself from the ass kicking I received," he explained exhaustedly.

"Wow. The same person has beaten your ass twice in less than a week and you haven't tried to kill them, this is a record!" Naruto exclaimed jokingly.

"Naruto, I swear to Kami and every other deity that exists, if you even think about holding this against me in the near future, I will construct a seal for you that will make you get stuck in your sexy jutsu form and actually believe that you are a girl" the blindfolded boy threatened.

The blonde paled as he thought about the chaos and humiliation that could be caused should such a seal actually come into existence. Naruto wasn't stupid enough to think that Izo wouldn't be able to succeed in creating such a thing, and so he wisely decided to head his brother's words.

"It's cool, I'll be good," he said shakily.

"Thankyou. Do you happen to know where Kana is? I don't think Kuro-Chan wants to have anything to do with me after everything and I kinda figured that Kana would be the best one to keep an eye on her," the older boy inquired.

Naruto shrugged. "Don't have a clue. I wouldn't recommend it though, considering what Kana put her though on our way back"

"Hmm, good point. So that puts me and Kana out when it comes to Kuro-Chan and you definitely weren't even on the list to begin with. If we're lucky, she'll forgive one of us, otherwise things will get difficult real soon," Izo droned. "How long do you think until Iwa responds?"

"I'd give it a week or two, a month tops. Ōnoki won't leave his granddaughter to suffer here for very long, even if he has to go to war to get her back. The only thing I could see going bad would be the Iwa council causing issues with our requests, or trying something stupid. They were the ones who were demanding my capture after all," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Why is it that every single village council feels the need to cause problems? Except for Kirigakure of course since that place was being run by an insane and bloodthirsty jinchuuriki until just recently. I doubt that the new council there will dare to cause problems for the new Mizukage though; that woman is just as, if not more scary than a Bijuu" the blindfolded boy said, shuddering at the thoughts of the new Mizukage.

Naruto grinned. "You're still terrified from the last time we met her, aren't you?" he asked smugly.

Izo glared at his little brother. "I will end you, you little bastard. You could never understand the horror's that woman put me through" he growled angrily.

"Oh calm down, it's not as if she raped you" the blonde said dismissively, before noticing Izo going extremely pale. "Wait, did she?" he asked.

"No, but now I have even more to fear for the next time I meet her. I can't trust that woman to not do something like that considering what she did to me last time," the older boy said shakily.

"What did she even do? All I know is that she practically kidnapped you from your room while you were recovering and returned you during your apparent mental breakdown. What the hell could a woman possibly do to get that kind of reaction from you?" Naruto asked in frustration.

"You underestimate the true potential of the female species. There is a Kami damn reason why the hidden villages try not to seal Bijuu into women, a damn good fucking reason," Izo muttered frantically.

Naruto deadpanned at the older boy. "Yeah, sure. I'm gunna go to my room now, try not to kill yourself, and check on our guest before you lock yourself away in the basement. I don't need her waking up in a panic and wrecking anything in my house," he said lazily.

"_Our_ house! Me and Kana live here too you know!" Izo corrected angrily.

"Yes, yes, our house. Just do what I said" the jinchuuriki drawled.

Izo watched as Naruto left up the stairs. He waited until he heard the younger boy's door relock itself before getting up and walking to the bathroom. He needed to clean the blood off his face and clothes, probably have a shower too. He really hoped that Kurotsuchi wouldn't wake up and try anything stupid; the girl would flip out if they isolated her to her room. Oh well, things would work out...maybe.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Well guys, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will finally be bringing team 7 into this story in the next chapter, probably. Also, in case anyone was wondering, i more than likely wont be doing very much when it comes to the Hyuuga clan since that entire story idea is very much overused these days.

Any suggestions, idea's or questions are appreciated so please don't hesitate to send them or review them, i will try to respond to all of them that i feel deserve a response.

Please don't forget to review any thoughts or complaints.

I am outa here!


	12. Discoveries

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but i do own my OC's and anything else i create originally for this story.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Izo waited patiently for Kakashi to arrive at the bridge that their team was supposed to meet at. Why they were meeting at a bridge was beyond either of them, but one thing was for sure…Kakashi was going to regret making them wait this long. It wasn't so much the waiting either, but the concept of such a high ranking ninja being late, that was the real issue. Izo for one did quite enjoy the peace and quiet, while Naruto was just thankful to finally begin doing something in terms of getting closer to the chunin exams.<p>

There were but two minor issues that were irritating the Uzumaki brothers more than even Kakashi's tardiness, and their names were Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Sasuke had somehow adopted Kakashi's tardiness since the pompous boy wasn't at the bridge yet, while Sakura was passing the time by trying to melt Naruto's head with a glare. Why she wasn't also glaring at Izo was a mystery, but also probably for the best anyway.

Unfortunately, our favourite blonde idiot wasn't coping well with such an intense and focussed glare. Having spent so many years working in ROOT had made him accustomed to the shadows, where no one could find him and no one could glare at him. He was actually hoping, foolishly mind you, that the glares would not reappear once he returned to the public eye. Oh how wrong he was. If the glare from just one weak little girl was irritating him this much, then what would the glares of an entire mob do to him?

"Izo, she's still glaring at me," Naruto mumbled quietly.

Izo sighed. "Just ignore her Naruto. Kakashi should be here soon, and then she'll be too busy to glare at you constantly," he said quietly.

"You sure about that? She looks pretty damn determined to set me on fire," the blonde said worriedly. He knew he could beat Sakura if she tried anything, but girls were known for being unexpectedly dangerous.

"If you don't man up I'll be determined to set you on fire as well," Izo growled lightly.

Naruto pouted childishly. "Aren't big brothers supposed to look after their little brothers?" he grumbled.

"No, you're thinking of girls with older brothers. Unless you plan to use that famed sexy jutsu of yours, you are on your own" the blindfolded boy replied casually.

"So…" Sakura began, bringing the two boys back to reality. "You have the Kyuubi sealed inside you huh?" she asked irritably.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the girl. "I suppose you're going to start preaching about me being corrupted and that I'm a danger to the village, right?" he asked in a bored tone.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm not an idiot. I know how a seal works, and I've heard about jinchuuriki before. I just don't understand why the Yondaime sealed such power into you when it would have made more sense to seal it into someone better, like Sasuke-Kun," she stated coldly.

Naruto stared at the girl with wide eyes. "You getting all this?" he asked Izo in amazement.

"Yep. It's a real shocker to me too bro" Izo replied in shock.

"What are you two muttering about?" the pink haired girl asked harshly.

"Oh, nothing really. We're simply amazed by the fact that you don't hate me for the fox, rather you hate the fact that I have the thing in the first place. It's just surprising is all," the jinchuuriki said casually.

Sakura snorted. "It doesn't matter anyway. It's not as if you're able to control any of that power, so you still couldn't hope to match Sasuke-Kun," the girl said before turning away from the boys.

"What is wrong with teenage girls?" Izo asked curiously.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that question. "Did you have a rough morning with our guest?" the blonde asked.

Izo nodded. "Yep. And here I thought girls liked breakfast in bed. I'll never try that one again, far too dangerous" he said with a shudder.

"She tried to kill you with a fork didn't she?" Naruto asked in amusement.

"Worse, a spoon. The bad part of it all was that she actually managed to drive the thing through the door when I closed on her. If only there was some way to collect and store the seemingly unmatched power of an angry female and create a seal that utilises its abilities," Izo mumbled thoughtfully.

"You tried that one already, Kana almost killed you for it, remember?" Naruto said lazily.

"A mere hiccup on the path to a scientific breakthrough" the older boy said dismissively.

"You know I can still hear you both, right?" Sakura asked in annoyance.

"Oh we know; we simply don't care. Since we're going to be teammates, I suggest you get used to it. Me and Izo don't work all too well with others so we like to talk amongst each other for the sake of intelligent conversation" the blonde said with a shrug, ignoring the girl's even more intense glare.

"Uchiha inbound" Izo muttered.

Not a minute later, Sasuke calmly walked onto the bridge, ignoring Izo in favour of staring intently at Naruto, almost as if he wanted something. One the plus side, the Uchiha wasn't glaring at him like many others had been, but on the down side, Naruto was sensing a ridiculous amount of desire coming from Sasuke. Considering that the boy was staring at him so intently, such feelings could be misinterpreted.

Thank Kami he knew that the raven haired boy actually just wanted the Kyuubi, or rather, its power, otherwise he would have had a heart attack. He had been told about the horrors of fangirls many times from multiple sources, and although fangirls could be dealt with, fanboys were a completely different ball game, pun not intended. Whereas fangirls had numbers and shear persistence, fanboys had the strength, speed and determination to become a literal nightmare for their target. Naruto did not need Sasuke as his fanboy.

Sakura, being a fangirl, was instantly within Sasuke's bubble of personal space, ogling him and asking for a date. Such a sight would have sickened Naruto had he not seen far worse, and Izo was thanking Kami that he was blindfolded. The fact that the Uchiha hadn't killed the pink haired girl yet was a true testament to his patience and ability to block out the outside world. How Sakura hadn't been able to take the hint, despite her apparent intelligence, was another question altogether.

One thing that the Uzumaki's did take notice of were the dark bags under the other boys eyes, showing that the Uchiha hadn't gotten very much sleep the night before. If they were to hazard a guess, they would assume that Sasuke had spent most of the night scanning through his clan library for anything about the Kyuubi. It was truly amazing how the Kyuubi, out of all of the Bijuu, attracted such attention from the famed Dōjutsu welding clan. Not that it would help him of course.

As expected, Sasuke continued to ignore Sakura and glare at Naruto in unconcealed jealousy, sparring a few curious glances at Izo while he was at it. Said blindfolded boy was finding it rather disheartened by the lack of attention he was getting; by all logical reasoning, he should be the more shocking out of the new revelations released to the public. As far as he was concerned, Naruto being the Kyuubi container was old news to all but a select few, him being a previous test experiment of a notorious traitor should have warranted some concern among the civilians.

Despite logic and reasonable thinking, something that the civilians had in spades, everyone had decided to pass him up in preference to glaring at the blonde jinchuuriki. Apparently, Izo hadn't done anything noteworthy to make the general public perceive him as a possible threat; he would have to correct that at some point, preferably in a brutal yet completely unexplainable fashion. If there was one thing that Izo prided himself on more than his skill with seals, it was his ability to do things that not even Kami would expect, and somehow come out of it alive.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted cheerfully as he appeared suddenly.

The four teens turned and glared at him but didn't say anything to indicate their irritation at the man's bad habit. The masked jonin simply eye smiled and waved to the genin lazily; they would eventually grow fond of his tardiness when they realised that it stopped them from doing excessive amounts of D-rank missions. Until they realised that, they would just have to suffer. The man almost felt the need to chuckle as he imagined how the kids would react should they have been stuck with Guy; how that man still had a genin team, or was even allowed one in the first place, was not something Kakashi wanted to know anytime soon.

"Are you all ready for you first mission?" the jonin asked casually.

Sasuke smirked as he gave a slight nod to the silver haired man. He was obviously eager for a way to gain experience and possibly get stronger, his desire for revenge serving to anchor him to such thoughts. Kakashi figured that the Uchiha would have to have that frame of mind kicked out of him soon, but he had promised to the Sandaime that he would not focus solely on the boy. Glancing lazily at Sakura, the scarecrow wasn't all too surprise to see her gazing dreamily at Sasuke. The girl's fangirl attitude was very high in his mental list of things to slaughter without mercy, even if he couldn't actually kill the girl.

Naruto and Izo were…not actually showing any signs that they had heard the man's question. It was also worthy to note that they had both changed their attire to something a bit more casual, more than likely they were aware of the requirements of D-rank missions and figured that it was pointless to dress for anything more. Naruto was wearing a pair of plain black pants and a dark orange shirt with a black spiral pattern on the front and back, his forehead protector tied around his head and a pair of black fingerless gloves on his hands. His katana was strapped to his back via a Y shaped strap that went over his right shoulder and under his arm.

Izo had also foregone his coat, leaving him in his dark grey pants and dark purple shirt with two black horizontal stripes. He still had his eyes covered by dark green bandages, along with the long black scarf wrapped loosely around his neck, but now his arms and hands were completely covered in plain white bandages. A rather plain looking chokuto, with an oddly long hilt, was handing from his waist by what appeared to be small belts jerry-rigged for that exact purpose. His long crimson sash with the Konoha forehead protector plate attached to it was tied loosely around his waist.

Kakashi hadn't actually seen the sword that they boy was carrying with him, making him wonder what had happened to the two short swords that the boy had used against him in the bell test. Overall, the boys both seemed extremely care free and unenthusiastic about the tasks to come, not that he could blame them. The sole purpose of D-rank missions, aside from earning the village some extra money, was too weed out the weak willed genin who were only in it for the glory. Most of those kinds dropped out of the whole thing once they realised the boring reality of things.

It was incredibly unfortunate that with the new and 'improved' academy curriculum, many girls were able to pass by while disregarding the skills that they actually needed to be acceptable kunoichi. The dullness of D-rank missions was often completely missed by them, and by the time a real life or death situation presented itself, it was already far too late. That was why Kakashi was going to use the D-rank missions as a chance to focus on Sakura. While the boys were busy refining their teamwork, he would be busy beating the pinkette out of her fangirlish ways.

_'If worst comes to worst I'll simply drop her into more capable hands. I'm sure Kurenai will appreciate a new victi…training partner for her genjutsu. Sakura will forgive me someday…maybe' _the Cyclops thought to himself with a mental shrug.

"Alright then, I'll meet you four at the Hokage's office to pick up our first mission. See ya" Kakashi said with a wave before disappearing in a Shunshin.

Naruto and Izo quickly followed suit, leaving an irritated Sakura and an overly jealous Sasuke. The Uchiha grunted in annoyance before walking off towards the Hokage tower, his pink haired fangirl following close behind. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in determination; he _was _going to find a way to use the Kyuubi's power. From all the research he had done in his clan's library, Sasuke had learnt one very important thing…the Kyuubi was the only sure-fire method of truly killing fangirls, and he desperately needed that power more than anything.

* * *

><p>Hiruzen couldn't help but grin sinisterly at the genin team that stood before him. He had been awaiting this very moment for so long that it had almost become a hopeless dream of his, always barely out of his reach. But now, it had finally arrived. The opportunity he had been waiting for, the chance to finally make Naruto and Izo suffer for causing him so many headaches during the years of their training. Today was the day he finally got to give them a D-rank mission.<p>

"You have no idea how happy I am right now," the old man wept joyfully.

Naruto twitched but didn't say anything, which thankfully only went noticed by Kakashi and Izo, Sarutobi being too happy to notice much outside of his daydreaming. Izo wasn't fairing much better than his brother, having to actively hold himself back from trying to freeze the old geezers head and smashing it into millions of pieces. Sasuke and Sakura were completely clueless to what was actually happening, as far as they were concerned the Hokage was simply happy to finally have shinobi of their skill doing missions for the village. Oh how stupidly innocent they were.

Kakashi merely chuckled lightly, knowing full well what the Hokage had planned. "So, lord Hokage, what mission will my cute little genin be doing today?" he asked in an amused tone.

"Must not kill Cyclops. Must not kill Cyclops. Must not kill Cyclops," Naruto chanted through gritted teeth.

"He did not just call me cute. He did not just call me cute. He did not just call me cute," Izo muttered frantically.

The Hokage smirked triumphantly. "I actually have a very special mission for team seven today, one handpicked by yours truly" he began, making note of the even smugger expressions on the non-related genin's faces. "Team seven, today you will be retrieving Tora, the cat of the fire daimyo's wife" he finished.

Sasuke and Sakura face vaulted, Kakashi chuckled at the misfortune of his team, and the Uzumaki siblings deadpanned at the elderly man. The boys twitched every now and then but were otherwise unmoving, as they seemed to stare straight into the old Sarutobi's soul.

"Kill him?" Naruto asked emotionlessly.

Izo nodded. "Kill him," he confirmed.

Both boys quickly tried to lunge at the Hokage but were jerked back suddenly by Kakashi, who then proceeded to drag them out of the office with an eye smile. "Thanks for the mission lord Hokage," the silver haired man said cheerfully.

"You will pay for this old man! Mark my words, you will pay!" Naruto yelled from down the hall.

Izo decided to cackle madly as he was dragged away, not offering any actual vocal threats in the sense of the word, but still managing to get his message across none the less. Sarutobi had no doubt that he would regret his actions, but it was most definitely worth it. This must have been how Jiraiya felt after he was nearly beaten to death by Tsunade for spying on her in the bath house. His student may have been an idiot at times, but he definitely knew what was worth the pain in the end.

Coming out of his slight daydream, Hiruzen noticed that Sasuke and Sakura were still in his office, both of them staring at him expectantly. "What are you two still doing here?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Lord Hokage, surely that mission is a joke, right?" Sakura asked sceptically.

"Actually Sakura, the mission you received is very much real. You didn't honestly expect me to start you off with a dangerous mission, do you? You only just graduated from the academy; I would have to be a fool to send you off to an early grave like that. These missions you will be receiving will help you work together with your teammates, preparing you for when you actually have to rely on each other to survive" the old man lectured.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted before walking out.

Sakura didn't move for a little while, letting the Hokage's words process through her mind completely. She didn't like the idea of possibly putting her life in the hands of either Naruto or Izo; Sasuke though, she would do almost anything to have him rescue it her. Sakura could practically see it all now, Sasuke saving her in a heroic display of bravery, and her rewarding him for his efforts; their relationship would only progress from there and before long, they would be married.

Sarutobi watched as the pink haired girls expression rapidly changed from unsure, to hopeful, to something akin to dreamy, and then to gleeful before she ran out of his office, probably chasing after the Uchiha. Hiruzen hated to admit it, but that girl was definitely going to die. Normally he would do something about it and try to save her from a horrible end, but he was somewhat annoyed that a girl like her was even able to graduate in the first place; therefore, she would just have to become the example to help get the message across to the council.

With a deep sigh, the aged Hokage turned back to his desk that had several scrolls piled up to the side. It was merely for show, a way to give him an excuse to meet each new team before they began receiving missions from just random chunin. It was always good to at least know the pawns you controlled, even if it wasn't very well. Then he could actually say he knew them at their funeral without lying through his teeth.

Hiruzen frowned. Being old was a major pain in the ass when you lived in a hidden village. Everyone expected so much of you, especially when it came to mourning the younger generations. He honestly wanted to pass the hat on to some proud and arrogant snob, just to watch as they crash and burn from the pressure. Unfortunately, he had already planned accordingly should he kick the bucket before he could retire, and he would rather his chosen replacement not have a mental breakdown due to the job.

"You're thinking about retirement again, aren't you?" one of his ANBU guards asked him in amusement.

The Hokage glared at the masked man. "An old man can dream can't he," he pouted pitifully.

The ANBU snorted. "You and I both know that your dreams have nothing to do with retirement. Jiraiya's books saw to that," the man said casually.

Sarutobi stared at the ANBU emotionlessly. "Get back in your corner and don't make a sound or so help me I will dress you in a tutu and drop you into the female side of the bath house," he threatened in a monotone voice.

The masked man did as he was told with such haste that even the Yondaime would have been hard pressed to replicate such speeds. The elderly Hokage grinned victoriously. "It's good to be the king" he chuckled quietly, ignoring the sniggering from the other three ANBU in the room.

Now he just had to hope that Naruto didn't kill Tora. He wasn't sure that he could deal with a distraught fat woman that just so happened to be married to the man in charge of the entire country.

* * *

><p>"Fox boy, in position. Target spotted and identified," a much too cheerful voice said over a headset.<p>

"Freak, in position. Still can't see shit," muttered an annoyed voice over the radio connection.

"Prince charming, in position. Why did we let Sakura choose the code names?" another voice droned irritably.

"Hush prince charming, and refer to me as princess. I'm in position, target is identified" a girls voice said excitedly.

"Is your target of the feline species, or is it more akin to that of the rear end of a duck sitting atop a particularly large stick with a fleshy sheath that is rather fond of unintelligible grunting?" freak drawled in annoyance.

"Be nice freak, you wouldn't want princess to target you, now would you?" a disturbingly amused voice asked.

"Does this cat _need _to be alive when we return it?" fox boy asked curiously.

"Yes fox boy, it does. Do you want to be the one to explain to the daimyo's wife why her cat is dead?" the amused voice asked.

"We aren't saying it will be dead, it just won't necessarily be alive" freak clarified.

"That doesn't make sense" princess deadpanned.

"Does this mission leave room for accidental collateral damage Cyclops?" fox boy asked.

The aptly named Cyclops chuckled. "I'm afraid not fox boy, this is strictly a capture and return mission. I suggest you all stop talking and actually get to doing the mission at hand; the sooner you complete it, the sooner we can get a different one" he said casually.

Without any further delay, prince charming, AKA Sasuke, charged at the target with intentions to at least harm the thing before handing it over. Naruto also went ahead and charged at the cat, his intentions, however, were far more permanent for the feline menace. Sakura attempted to follow behind Sasuke, but her lack of any speed whatsoever meant she was quickly left in the dust by the raven haired boy. Izo, much to the observing Kakashi's surprise, had disappeared completely.

Sasuke was the first to reach Tora, lunging at the cat in a futile attempt to catch the small animal with his bare hands. The demonic creature was quick to respond with its cat like reflexes, jumping out of the Uchiha's reach at the last possible moment with the intention of running away. Luckily, Naruto had planned for such a thing to happen and had already positioned two clones, along with himself, in optimal points around the cat. It would need to know some sort of escaping jutsu to get out of this.

Tora, by some divine miracle or another, decided that now, of all times, was the time to suddenly showcase its ability to use low level jutsu as it actually managed to replace itself with a log. Naruto and Sasuke gaped at what had occurred before them before turning to stare wide eyed at Tora, which was sitting a short distance away with a smug aura oozing from it. Somehow, that cat knew the replacement jutsu, and they swore that somehow, they would rid the world of its evil.

Much to everyone's surprise, Sakura actually made a try for the cat, attempting to dive onto it and pin it down. One more impossible replacement jutsu later found Sakura pinning down a royally shocked Sasuke, who simply stared at the pinkette with wide fearful eyes. The girl squealed in glee as she wrapped her arms around the shocked boy's neck. Naruto paled slightly and quickly turned away from the sickening sight; there were things in the world that shouldn't be seen, and Sakura straddling Sasuke was very, very high on that list.

Taking a quick sniff of the air, the blonde locked onto the cats scent before sprinting off in its direction. Izo had completely vanished which could have meant several things at this point; either he was going to get revenge on the old man, he simply wanted alone time, or he was planning to kill Tora. None of those possibilities really concerned Naruto too much, but he really didn't want to risk the fire daimyo's wife throwing a tantrum over a dead cat.

The blonde skidded to a sudden stop as he entered the clearing that Tora was casually sitting in. The cat's eyes stared at him lazily, mocking him, daring him to make a move just so it could pull some miracle out of its ass and escape while humiliating him at the same time. Even within ROOT he had heard about the dreaded Tora missions, how the cat was a demon that rivalled even the Kyuubi in its ability to cause chaos. At the time, it had been funny to hear other shinobi complain about such a small animal, but now that he was here, he could understand completely.

He glared at the animal, and it stared back carelessly. Naruto would have attempted to set the thing on fire, or perhaps slice it into hundreds of pieces with his wind chakra, had Izo not suddenly phased into existence behind the clueless feline. The older boy did not seem particularly happy, even in spite of the psychotic grin etched on his face. This was further proved when Izo held his hands out in front of him and created a small glowing cube of energy, which unlike the standard Jinton, was coloured a light blue.

"**Yūgōton: Frozen Particle Cube jutsu!**" Izo exclaimed madly as the small blue cube shot forward and engulfed the cat before being lit up in a bright flash of blue light.

When the light died down it revealed Tora to be completely unharmed and still in one piece, albeit frozen solid in a large cube of ice. Naruto shook his head at his brother's methods and ignored the extremely proud expression on the older boys face. Izo's unique ability to fuse almost any of the five elemental chakra natures into their respective Kekkei Genkai was without a doubt awesome, but when the boy went and fused an elemental Kekkei Genkai like the Hyōton with his Kekkei Tōta Jinton, it was the dictionary definition of overkill. That didn't mean it was bad though, far from it actually; it just had a tendency to put people on edge.

"Did you really have to use that of all things on it?" the jinchuuriki asked exasperatedly.

Izo shrugged. "Does it really matter? I caught the cat and got to practice with my abilities a little bit more in the process, so it's a win-win situation all round" the blindfolded teen said casually. "Although I don't think I will be throwing any jutsu around for a while now. That one used far more chakra than I am comfortable with and we do not need me having another episode just because I got bored"

Naruto deadpanned at the boy. "You think?" he droned sarcastically. "Anyway, now we have to return the catsicle to its owner, and I really doubt she's going to be happy about it"

"Not our problem" the older teen shrugged carelessly.

"Actually, it is our problem, or rather your problem to be exact" Kakashi stated cheerfully from the other side of the clearing. "Since you went and used a potentially dangerous jutsu against our target, I have no other option than to deduct a fine from your pay for this mission," he said cheerfully.

"What! You can't do that. The thing will be thawed in a few hours, so it's not like its dead…I think" Izo chuckled nervously at his last comment.

Kakashi eye smiled at the boy. "You of all people should know better than to jeopardise a mission, even one as unimportant as this, just to sate your own boredom. Should I be concerned for the time when this team actually receives a higher ranking mission? Will you be able to control yourself should the situation call for it, or will you become a hindrance?" the masked jonin asked, his care free tone doing nothing to hide the seriousness of the question.

Oddly enough, it was actually Naruto who replied while glaring at the man. "Izo and I are perfectly capable of doing whatever needs to be done should the situation call for it. We might both have some issues when it comes to having complete control over our abilities, but we have worked in conjunction with the Hokage to make sure that there are several safety precautions set in place should worst come to worst" the blonde explained seriously.

Izo sighed at the blonde's attitude. Naruto had always had a problem with people making assumptions about either of them losing control; usually the assumption involved one or both of the boys turning on the village and killing their comrades. Needless to say, Naruto hated it when people questioned their capabilities in maintaining control. It was actually kind of sweet, in a sick twisted sense of the word.

Kakashi wasn't at all fazed by the jinchuuriki's sudden change in attitude. "That's all I wanted to know. As long as you're confident that you won't cause any more problems than necessary, then it's fine by me. But I would suggest that you refrain from using jutsu like that on any future D-rank missions. It simply won't do to have you waste all that chakra while doing a mere chore within the village, and I would hate to think of what could happen should such a technique backfire," the jonin said in the same care free tone that he always used as he casually walked away.

"Well, on the bright side, he isn't having a spaz attack over me showing off that particular jutsu. Most people freak out when they first see what I can do," Izo said with a smile. "I have a feeling that this might actually not be so bad after all"

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "We'll see how things go. For now though, I think we should just focus on getting through these D-ranked missions without murdering anyone," he said before pointing to the ice cube contained Tora. "You're carrying that thing since you made it like that"

Izo snorted but didn't argue. He knew when something was definitely his fault and when he had to deal with it; he did wish that he could stick the job on one of the actual genin of the team, but chances were that Naruto would find some way to make him regret it. The brat was surprisingly good at making karma pull its head out of its ass and work double time when he needed it to. Izo had occasionally wondered if his little brother had somehow managed to sign a contract of some sorts with a deity, but quickly shut that idea down for being completely ludicrous.

"Uzumaki" Sasuke stated bluntly, getting both boys to look at him curiously. "That jutsu, what was it and where did you learn it?" he asked in an almost demanding tone…almost.

Naruto rolled his eyes and started walking away. This had nothing to do with him and he would rather not suffer in the presence of the Uchiha any more than he absolutely had to. He would find some way to show his pity to Izo…maybe, if he was feeling generous enough. The blonde suddenly quirked an eyebrow as he noticed that his chakra was very slowly being sapped away; it wasn't even enough to cause any form of problem for him, in fact it was barely even able to register compared to how fast his reserves refilled.

Actually, if he was to hazard a guess, Naruto would say that it was disturbingly similar to when a summons of his stayed past the amount of time that the amount of chakra he used to summon it allowed. Usually, if the summon was stubborn enough to stick around, it would simply start to slowly sap at his reserves from a distance, maintaining its connection and staying around for as long as it wanted. Naruto didn't really mind, the summons clearly had a reason to stick around, so who was he to disturb it. He would of course check it out to make sure everything was ok, but other than that, he wouldn't intrude.

_'It's probably one of the kits I summoned for Ashi. Not sure why one of them would be hanging around though, unless she is still in that clearing. I wonder if I should be worried' _he thought as he walked away.

Izo watched as Naruto left him to deal with the Uchiha by himself. Even though he couldn't really blame him, he was sure as hell going to make his brother regret just leaving him hanging like that. There were strict rules on how to handle such things, the bro code if you will, and Naruto had disregarded all of them completely. With an irritated sigh, Izo turned to stare blankly at Sasuke, which thankfully seemed to unnerve the boy slightly. Oh, the joys of wearing a blindfold all the time, no one could figure out what you were staring at.

"That jutsu is none of your business, and I made it myself. Just for the record though, even if I told you, you wouldn't be able to use it in any feasible way. It's directly related to my Kekkei Genkai, meaning that even if you had your Sharingan, you couldn't copy it. And a word of advice, drop the pompous attitude. You would be amazed at how far a simple smile and some politeness goes with most people" the older boy replied lazily.

Sasuke frowned. "You have a Kekkei Genkai?" he asked irritably.

It wasn't so much the fact that the older boy had a Kekkei Genkai that was irritating him, since he knew that the Sharingan was easily more powerful than whatever the Uzumaki could possibly have. No, it was the fact that the boy cold actually use his own Kekkei Genkai to such an extent while he himself hadn't even unlocked his Dōjutsu. The jutsu that the older teen had used so effortlessly was clearly effective, that much he could tell. It was unfortunate that he wasn't able to use it for himself; such a technique would probably have been helpful in killing…him.

Izo yawned. "Technically, yes. I assume that you already know what I am, therefore, I think it's safe to assume that you can figure out how exactly I have a Kekkei Genkai," he said, shrugging slightly. "If you can't figure it out, well, then I guess you'll just be stumped on it for a while"

Sakura, who had somehow managed to appear next to Sasuke without either of the boys noticing, was looking at Izo with a smug look. "So you have an artificial Kekkei Genkai then huh?" she asked smugly. "I've read about them, but they are supposed to be unstable and not nearly as effective as natural bloodlines"

The blindfolded teen simply stared at the girl blankly. Sakura worried him more than anyone could possibly imagine, mostly because the girl was actually able to move around without him noticing. He knew she hadn't done it consciously, she simply didn't have the skill to do that, but fangirls were capable of terrifying things, and that is what worried him. A normal girl was capable of incredibly insane and amazingly scary things when it came to inflicting pain on males, fangirls simply took those capabilities to the next level.

Either way, the pinkette was mostly correct about artificial Kekkei Genkai; they were more often than not incredibly unstable and usually less powerful than the real thing, but that didn't make them less effective. Just like anything else in the shinobi world, it didn't matter too much when it came to power, so long as you knew how to use it to its fullest extent. He doubted the Uchiha would agree to that, and Sakura would simply follow along like a lost puppy. Oh well, as long as he understood what being a true shinobi meant.

"Well my dear teammates, I'm going to go and complete this mission before checking up on a house guest. Do try not to get impatient and try resurrecting your clan too quickly Sasuke, you may want to let Sakura develop a bit more before doing anything" Izo said quickly, disappearing in a Shunshin before Sasuke could even register what he had said.

The last Uchiha finally realised what Izo had said and had the decency to blush lightly. A sudden feeling of impending doom filled the raven haired boy and his fight or flight reflexes were screaming at him to run, run far, run fast, and to never look back. Turning his head slowly, Sasuke was met with the blushing red and slightly dazed expression of Sakura, who was staring at him dreamily. That's when he realised that the foreboding feeling had been his fangirl warning sense going off, and it was quite close to having a meltdown at the moment.

Sakura quickly came out of her daydreaming, which involved way too many adult things that a thirteen year old girl shouldn't really know about, before turning to address the focus of aforementioned fantasies. Her eyes widened as she realised that Sasuke wasn't anywhere to be seen, meaning that he had run off while she was too busy fantasising about them being together.

"Dammit Sakura, you let him get away again!" she chided herself irritably. "No more daydreaming and more actually working on winning him over" the girl recited sternly.

Taking a deep breath, she recomposed herself and pulled a small mirror out of her shuriken pouch, checking her hair and making sure that she looked at least presentable before jogging towards the Hokage tower.

"Sasuke-Kun! Wait for me!" she called out as she went.

Sasuke let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding as he walked out from behind some nearby trees. That had been far too close for comfort, and he would need to make sure that it never happened again. Glancing around lazily, Sasuke realised that Tora was still in the middle of the clearing, stuck in the large cube of ice.

"They planned this," he muttered angrily as he went over to pick up the cube.

The mission still needed to be completed after all.

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed in content as he inhaled the heavenly scent of ramen, a large steaming bowl of the delicious goodness sitting in front of him, longing to be consumed. The blonde had instinctually gone to Ichiraku's after the Hokage had dismissed them, the ramen store being the only place he knew that could effectively dull the ever growing headache he was getting just from being within direct contact of anything to do with a D-rank mission.<p>

Izo had disappeared, more than likely to check on Kurotsuchi and make sure she hadn't tried anything stupid. It amazed Naruto that the older boy showed so much concern for the girl even after she had made so many attempts on his life, not that he would bring it up in conversation though. He was dense, not suicidal. After seeing how his brother had practically mastered the Hyōton variant of his Jinton jutsu, he wasn't going to take any more chances. He knew Izo would freeze him, and he knew that Izo knew that he would survive it too.

Speaking of mastering jutsu, Naruto realised that he still had a few projects that he needed to work on. Nothing overly special really, just a couple of scrolls and whatnot that had peaked his interest within his compounds library. The years of training he had gone through with the Hokage and Danzō, was extremely helpful, but it didn't leave him with much time to work on his own stuff; it mostly just gave him a really good grasp on the basics and then some more advanced basics. It was still somewhat up to him to truly develop his own skills into something to be worthy of notice.

The Hiraishin had been ridiculously easy for him to get the hang of, especially with Izo breaking the marker seal down into baby terms for him. Although he couldn't use the jutsu effectively with his own chakra, Izo had made an alteration to his seal that allowed him to subconsciously use the Kyuubi's chakra for the teleportation technique; this was why he always jumped in a flash of red opposed to yellow. It also meant that his clones couldn't utilise the Hiraishin anywhere near as effectively, much like they couldn't do anything else aside from be a distraction, or a quick learning trick.

The blonde uncaringly placed another empty bowl onto the quickly growing stack of them, which had now reached seven in number, before grinning widely as yet another serving was placed in front of him. Sometimes he wondered if the Ichiraku's could read his mind and know exactly when to bring him more ramen.

"No Naruto, we can't read your mind," Ayame said, smirking mischievously.

"Yeah boy, it's not like we're ninja after all" Teuchi called out from the back room.

Naruto simply stared at the older girl with wide fearful eyes, the delicious noodles of ramen slowly falling from his gaping mouth. "What are you?" he asked hesitantly. Unfortunately, due to still having food in his mouth, somehow, his words came out slurred and incomprehensible. There was a very good reason for him not wanting Ayame to read his mind, a reason that she may very well kill him for.

Ayame suddenly burst into a fit of giggles as she pointed at the still shocked boy. "You should have seen your face Naruto. Hahaha, you were terrified!" the girl exclaimed ecstatically.

"You really need to work on your senses bro," a disembodied voice said in amusement.

The jinchuuriki groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I suck at genjutsu, big deal. But did you really have to embarrass me like that in front of our guest?" he asked dryly.

Izo phased into existence along with Kurotsuchi, both of them with their own bowls of ramen sitting in front of them. Izo was smirking at Naruto's attempt to glare at him with noodles still hanging out of his mouth, and Kurotsuchi was actually trying hard to not giggle at the blonde's expense. Ayame and Teuchi apparently didn't care since they chuckled every time they glanced at the boy. On the plus side, Ayame did give him a few extra bowls of ramen on the house.

Naruto quickly slurped up the noodles hanging from his mouth before glaring at Izo. "You were telling her what I was most likely thinking, weren't you?" he asked dryly.

"Aww, you make it sound like such a bad thing. But yes, you're most certainly correct. Aren't games with genjutsu fun?" the older boy asked excitedly.

"I wouldn't know, I can't use genjutsu, remember" the blonde grumbled.

"Pfft, what kind of shinobi can't at least do basic genjutsu?" Kurotsuchi asked harshly.

The blonde stared at the older girl blankly. "One who has more chakra than is possible to actually control, and that's only my own chakra; I don't even want to think about trying to use genjutsu when I'm using furball's chakra as well" he shuddered. "It would be like trying to shit lava out of a pinhole," he muttered fearfully

Izo, Kurotsuchi, Ayame, as well as Teuchi, all deadpanned at the boy. "That was a terrible, horrifying, and disturbingly accurate analogy," Izo mumbled in barely supressed shock.

Kurotsuchi, being one who actually possessed the Yōton, was slightly more disturbed by the prospect. The thought of THAT happening with lava was anything but pleasant, but the idea of using it as a torture technique had potential. Now if only she could figure out how to infuse her chakra into a person's digestive organs and make the contents as hot a lava. She would need to look into it at some point.

"Please, never say things like that in here again. I would hate to have to ban you from my ramen for a year," Teuchi threatened kindly.

Naruto paled as he looked at the old man pleadingly. "Please, I'll be good, just don't ban me from your ramen!" he yelled frantically.

As the blonde continued to grovel at the reman chef's feet, Kurotsuchi turned to glare curiously at Izo, who was poking at his ramen with chopsticks as if they were dangerous. In all fairness, that should have been the first glaringly obvious sign that there was something exceedingly wrong with the boy, aside from everything else she had learnt about him of course.

"I thought I was being held captive because you guys didn't want people learning about the jinchuuriki, and yet he talks about it in public so carelessly. Surely you can't be so confident to think that your village is safe from spies or weak willed people who would let such information slip for the right price" the girl said sternly.

"Oh yeah, that thing" Izo mumbled idly as he continued to 'inspect' his ramen. "Well, as it just so turns out, most of the information that we are holding you captive for has already been given out. Chances are that the other hidden villages will know the majority of what you know by the end of the month, at most," he explained casually.

"You mean to tell me that you no longer even have a viable reason for keeping me here," Kurotsuchi growled irritably.

The blindfolded teen shook his head. "I said most of what you know has been revealed; you still know some things that need to be kept under wraps for now, no matter how unimportant the information might seem. Not to mention that I already went through a lot of effort and pain to put that seal on you and I'll be dammed before I take it off in under a week; that, and you are still highly valuable as a negotiating piece" he said with a care free tone.

Kurotsuchi frowned. Perhaps telling them that she was the Tsuchikage's granddaughter wasn't the brightest of things to do, but at least it promised her safety. Konoha wouldn't risk throwing her into a prison with others who could possibly harm her in any way; risking the wrath of a Kage was something to be avoided at all costs after all. She really couldn't blame the Hokage for using her as a negotiating tactic; she probably would have done the same with the jinchuuriki if she had been in such a position.

The girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Your brother, the jinchuuriki, looks a lot like the famed yellow flash. Now that I think about it, the Yondaime was the one to defeat the Kyuubi when it attacked, and he was also known to be quite familiar with a kunoichi with the name Uzumaki. Considering that jutsu the boy used to take you down in that ravine, I think it's safe to guess as to who his parents are," she said calmly.

Turning to look at the boy questioningly, she was surprised to see him staring at her with an impressed smirk. "Well, you certainly figured it out faster than anyone thought you would. Congratulations, we now have even more reason to keep you in the village, maybe even add some extra precautions to your seal," he stated cheerfully.

"You would like that wouldn't you? You definitely seemed to enjoy drawing all of those seals on me…with your blood," she said in disgust.

"Not my decision. All area restriction based seals that I know require they be drawn in blood, makes it easier to set the area marker. Considering how much of my blood is already at the estate, it just made the whole process a cake walk," he explained casually.

"How am I even here? I thought you made the seal to keep me within the mansion exclusively. Also, why are you talking so openly about your brother's lineage? And how are you related to him?" Kurotsuchi asked curiously. She intended on finding out as much as she could.

Izo sighed as he motioned to his ramen, the noodles of which had been shaped into a very simple and crude seal of sorts. "I made a sound barrier seal almost as soon as you started talking about information getting out. As for how you're here, well that's simple; I made your seal with my blood, meaning that altering it slightly is easy as hell, even without being in contact with it. All I have to do is touch you for a brief moment and I'm instantly the new area marker. You now go wherever I go, unless you want to get a nasty shock," he explained lazily.

"As for talking about my brother's heritage. Well, you've already figured out who he is so there is very little point in trying to hide it or talk around it. How I'm related to him is simple to answer…I'm not. I was adopted into his family a few years ago and we just went from there. It worked out well for him since he realised that having a family, even if they were dead, was better than literally not having any blood relatives at all, like me"

"What do you mean by that?" the girl asked in confusion.

Izo grinned. "I wasn't lying when I said I was a clone that had long since left the realm of normal. I'm one of the more 'stable' of Orochimaru's experiments, a speed grown clone that was spliced with multiple strands of DNA from who knows how many legendary shinobi. Technically speaking, I'm not blood related to anyone in the elemental nations, except for the person who I was directly cloned from, but he is long since dead" he replied with a shrug. "Can't really do anything about it now though, so I don't worry myself with it"

Kurotsuchi stared intently at the blindfolded teen. She was finding such a story hard to believe but he hadn't shown any indications that he was lying, not even a slight twitch or anything that could be picked up on. It was possible that his eyes were the key to figuring out if he was telling the truth, but unless he decided to remove his blindfold, it was pointless. She did have to admit though, if he had covered his eyes specifically for that purpose, then he was probably far stronger than she had given him credit for. After all, not even legendary shinobi would give up their sight so casually unless they were completely capable without it, especially not for something as simple as being able to lie effectively.

For now, she was stuck with having to take his word on it since there was literally nothing else to go on and she honestly didn't know enough about him to outright deny the possibilities of him telling the truth. If he was in fact telling the truth, then Kurotsuchi would at least feel some pity for the boy, not much, but enough to count as pity. If it turned out he was just lying straight to her face, well, she still needed a test dummy to try and turn someone's insides into lava.

The two teens were suddenly distracted by a loud crashing sound accompanied by a high pitched squeal. Turning their heads, they were met with the rather amusing sight of Ayame chasing Naruto away from the ramen stand, her extremely large ladle held in hand. They slowly turned to look at Teuchi, who for some reason had a surprisingly cross expression as he watched his daughter try to kill the blonde boy.

"He said something he wasn't supposed to, didn't he?" Izo asked tiredly.

Teuchi nodded. "He forgot to inform us that it was him that tampered with our ramen whenever we served it to the Akimichi clan. He just so happened to say something about never doing it again while he was begging me not to ban him, and Ayame overheard it" the old man explained.

"I'm going to assume that she isn't happy about it," Izo muttered dryly.

"No, she is not. After we received so many complaints from the clan members, Ayame decided to try one of the bowls that we had served to them, to make sure it was ok. Needless to say, she ended up with the same ailment the Akimichi had been dealing with" the man said before wincing slightly. As it turned out, Ayame was much faster than most would give her credit for, and she also had a lot of pent up rage to release, meaning Naruto was currently going through a living hell. "I do almost feel bad for letting the girl do that to him, but even I wouldn't try to get between a woman and her revenge. Old age and near suicide don't go hand in hand"

A scream of agony echoed through the street as Ayame continued her merciless beating of the poor blonde idiot, probably going so far as to damage the ladle she was using in the process. Izo was used to seeing such things so he simply ignored it; he had learnt his lesson when it came to the ramen waitress a long time ago, and he refused to go through the experience again. Kurotsuchi though, had not seen this kind of thing before, so it was understandable that her face slowly began shifting to a more horrified expression as the beating continued.

"What…but that's…she's only a civilian…this isn't normal" the black haired girl muttered in disbelief before turning to look at Izo fearfully. "What is wrong with you people?" she asked shakily.

Izo shrugged. "No idea, but if you figure it out let me know. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a really stupid sibling to save" he said with a wave as he ran towards the now bloody and beaten Naruto.

"So…" Teuchi began, bringing the girl back to her senses. "Are you Izo's girlfriend or something?" he asked with a grin.

Kurotsuchi glared at the old man. "No, I'm not" she said coldly.

The ramen chef's grin widened. "Oh well, that's too bad I guess. He seems to like you, or at least I think he does; it's really difficult to tell what that boy is thinking sometimes"

"No kidding," she mumbled.

Teuchi sighed as he returned to his work, realising that the girl didn't really want to talk. Kurotsuchi simply sat in silence, watching as Ayame skipped back to the ramen stand with a pleased smile on her face and a bent and mangled ladle in her hand, followed closely by Izo as he helped a heavily beaten Naruto back to his seat. She didn't know why, but the blindfolded teen seemed oddly familiar. It could have simply been because she had seen him use the Jinton, but even that conclusion left the feeling nagging in the back of her mind.

One thing was for certain though; she would definitely be keeping a close eye on the Yondaime's son, and his adopted brother while she was stuck in Konoha. Whatever she could find out about them now could be invaluable later on.

* * *

><p>A shadowed figure casually walked through a dark and dreary hallway, a small clipboard held in his hand as he read over some notes he had gathered. He continued to walk down the hall until it opened up into a large room filled with multiple large tubes connected to the ground and ceiling, each one filled with a green tinted liquid of sorts. Without so much as a caring glance, the figure continued on, ignoring the contents of the room along with the stench of poorly cleaned blood.<p>

As far as he was concerned, there was nothing of interest to him in the room. Even the few tubes that actually contained something barely resembling a deformed humanoid were not worth his time. This wasn't his laboratory after all, and even if it was, he still wouldn't have bothered to check on anything. There were far more important subjects to be concerned about, one of which happened to be the exact reason for his early monthly report to his master.

Putting a little extra haste to his step, the figure continued on to the other side of the surprisingly long room. Eventually he reached yet another hallway, which thankfully wasn't anywhere near as long or twisting as the one he had taken to get to the lab. It got rather irritating at times, having to navigate through the literal maze of underground tunnels and numerous dead ends. Sometimes, when he was overly irritated, he would question whether or not the benefits of serving his master were worth the daily headaches caused by the mazes. In the end, he always realised that being killed for deserting was far worse and left it at that.

The hallway quickly opened up into a large open room with a large throne like structure at the far end. He didn't openly acknowledge the figure sitting on said throne, nor did he seem to show any indication to knowing that the other figures yellow eyes were staring at him curiously, but he was anything but unaware. He quickly made his way to the throne like structure and bowed to its occupant.

"Lord Orochimaru, I have some rather troubling news from Konoha," he said calmly.

Orochimaru sat up slightly in his throne and stared at the boy sternly. "It had better be important Kabuto. I do not wish for this early visit to interfere with your cover within the village; it would be most upsetting to lose such a valuable shinobi" he said quickly.

"I apologise, but I feel that the information I have may take precedence in this situation," Kabuto said as he stood up straight, adjusting his glasses slightly.

"And what might this information be?" the Sannin asked curiously.

Kabuto frowned slightly. "It seems that the Hokage has released the Kyuubi containers identity to the entire village and elemental nations, repealing his law on the subject. Normally I wouldn't think much of such a thing, but considering what you told me of your former sensei, I find it concerning that he would do something so brash. Surely you can understand, you did know him after all"

Orochimaru hummed in thought. "That is indeed quite out of character for my old sensei, but I suspect that he had good reasons for doing so; if he hadn't, the information would still be a badly kept secret. I think we should invest on keeping a closer eye on Sarutobi's actions and movements, I have a feeling that this could be some part of a plan he has. What he plans to accomplish, I'm not sure, but he wouldn't do something so brash without having something beneficial in mind," he stated calmly, not showing any signs of concern over the news.

He once again narrowed his eyes on the spectacle wearing boy in front of him. "I do hope that that is not all you came here to inform me of" he said in an almost threatening tone.

"No, of course not" Kabuto replied quickly. "I also have some more troubling news that was released in conjunction with the jinchuuriki's identity. It seems that Konoha believes itself to be in possession of a former experiment of yours, one that shows extreme potential and just so happens to be the jinchuuriki's adopted brother. I'm not ruling out the possibility of it being true, but from what they claim, I find it hard to believe that you would so easily allow them to take one of your more promising subjects"

"Do you have a file on this supposed experiment?" the snake summoner asked.

The boy nodded and handed a thin folder to his master. He knew that the information that the elders had 'found' was probably planted by the Hokage to sate his teammates curiosity, which more than likely meant that whatever was in the file he had was nowhere near all of the information the old Kage actually had on the experiment. It confused him to think about what reasons the Hokage would have to do such things.

Orochimaru quickly scanned over the files contents and raised an eyebrow as he chuckled lightly. "Well, well, it seems that one of my older bases was raided. The boy most certainly is one of my older experiments, a highly promising one as well if I remember correctly" he turned an amused look to Kabuto. "This boy, Izo, was directly responsible for the destruction of base #13. Until now I assumed that he had perished along with the other experiments, but it appears I was mistaken"

Kabuto's eyes widened slightly as he once again adjusted his glasses. "Lord Orochimaru, are you saying that one boy, who would have only been nine or ten at the time, took out an entire base all on his own?" he asked sceptically. "What exactly were you experimenting with to give a child such capabilities?"

The Sannin chuckled quietly. "There was a time when I desired a body capable of using any and all of the elemental chakra natures, both of natural and Kekkei Genkai origins. The concept wasn't too difficult to put into theory and not much harder to attempt practically, but to make a body able to sustain that much power was…challenging. It took me a while but I succeeded, subject C-47, or Izo as he is now known, being the end result of my experiments. In a sense, his body was perfect, but impossible to take over, even for me"

The spectacle wearing teens eyebrows shot up at that as he stared at his master. "Are you saying that he was able to overpower you?" he asked in concealed shock. The prospect of a child, no matter how much potential it had, actually overpowering one of the Sannin was near heart attack worthy.

"No Kabuto, he didn't; at least not in the way you would imagine" Orochimaru began in an amused tone. "Remember when I told you about my failure to take over Itachi Uchiha's body? How he humiliated me and made me feel weak?" the snake-like man asked.

"Yes lord Orochimaru, I remember. But I fail to see the relevance since you claimed that this Izo character did something different" the boy replied curiously.

"It's because they both possessed something that I believed I could not be matched in. They were both able to overpower me in the one thing that I most hate to be outmatched in, and they did it with such ease that it terrified me each time it happened" the man explained calmly.

By this point, Kabuto was staring at Orochimaru in a combination of surprise, shock, and a little bit of fear. "What could they possibly outmatch you in that was so terrifying?" he asked shakily.

Orochimaru chortled. "Their will to live, was beyond even my understanding. Itachi's reason to live is obvious and easy to understand, so much so that it is without a doubt his only reason to keep on going. Izo though, hmm, I would struggle to call it a reason to live at all; if I had to compare it to something, I would say that the boy simply possesses the instinct to survive" he explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Kabuto asked.

"He doesn't have, nor need, a reason to live; he is already instinctually set for survival. That boy is more of an animal than anything else, mentally speaking of course. I can hardly imagine what he would be capable of should his instincts turn to something other than pure survival" the snake summoner said thoughtfully.

There was a few moments of silence which Kabuto took to digest the information he was just given, not that helped to ease his concern. "You said that you were trying to create a body able to use all of the elemental chakra types, and that his body was perfect. Does that mean he is able to do you as you intended?"

The snake Sannin hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose it is possible for him to have gained control over his abilities in the years since he disappeared, but I doubt that they are anywhere near as strong as they could be, even if Konoha tried to train him in using them. However, just to be safe, I will organise for him to be captured and brought back to me. He could still be of some use to me, even if I can't take his body"

"Kabuto, I want you to keep an eye on the boy and inform me of the next mission his team is given outside of the village. Also, pay attention to Kimimaro, have him ready for a mission when the time calls" the man ordered calmly.

"You intend to send Kimimaro to capture your lost experiment? Are you sure that is wise? With his condition at the stage it is, I doubt he would be able to accomplish such a task" the medic voiced his concern.

"Don't worry, Kimimaro will serve a purpose, one way or another. Should he succeed in capturing the boy, then it will be a complete success, but should he fail, I will at least gain some useful information on my old test subject. Sometimes one must take the half wins to truly claim victory," Orochimaru said sagely. "Actually, while we're at it, I think it would also be beneficial to make an attempt on the jinchuuriki. The power of the Kyuubi could be a useful variable in some of my projects"

Kabuto bowed again, not really wanting to question the clearly insane man. "I understand lord Orochimaru; I will begin preparing Kimimaro immediately. Should I also make preparations to eliminate either of the targets should they prove to be too large of a threat?" he asked.

The Sannin shook his head. "No. Killing the Kyuubi jinchuuriki would only cause more problems than necessary, and as much as I would love to ruin Akatsuki's plans, it simply isn't logical. Making sure Izo is left alive is also a priority; I have a very important question for him" he said irritably.

"What do you want to ask him? I can't imagine he would know anything of great importance," Kabuto said curiously.

"It's not so much what _he _can tell me, but more what his body can tell me," the man muttered. "I designed him to only have a lifespan long enough to mature and maintain itself during my possession, which considering all the alterations I made to him, should have only been fifteen years, at most"

"You mean to say…?" Kabuto asked in shock.

Orochimaru frowned. "Exactly. The boy should have died a year ago, no matter what condition he was in at the time, and yet he's still here. I want to know how"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter because it's probably the longest one I've ever written in my life. If you did not enjoy this chapter then chances are you are reading the wrong story and you are permitted to leave whenever you wish, i wont hold any hard feelings. I'm also happy that this story now has over 100 followers, which is exceedingly more than i ever planned to have, so i'm calling this a success in my books and i'd like to thank you all for it.

Review, complain, ask questions, give ideas, do all of that and more should you feel like it. Reviewing is very much appreciated since i don't have all that many yet, so hop to it.

**Yūgōton = **a really shitty and obviously incorrect translation for "fusion release", which is pretty much used for whenever my OC decides to fuse two or more Kekkei Genkai based chakra natures together. I plan to start making some pretty random and awesome jutsu using this thing so look forward to that.

I am fully aware that my OC is taking up a bit too much of the spotlight, but that will be corrected...maybe. I promise nothing.

Anyway, I'm posting this at like midnight, so i'm ending this here.

Soul out!


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